


(Red) Room For 8

by 5y8m12d



Category: Ocean's 8 (2018), The Haunting of Hill House (TV 2018)
Genre: Angst, F/F, Heist Family goes into Hill House, I don't know what will happen either, Love Triangles, Mutual Pining, Mystery, Post-Canon, The Haunting Of Hill House AU, lots of ghosts, mainly focused on the Ocean's 8 ladies but the Crain family will make appearances
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-09
Updated: 2019-10-21
Packaged: 2019-10-24 19:10:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 58,396
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17709917
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/5y8m12d/pseuds/5y8m12d
Summary: Bear with me here, please...Who were two of 2018 most iconic lesbian characters? Lou Miller and Theo Crain, of course.What would happen if they met once?If Lou somehow manged to steal the keys to the horrible place that is Hill House. If, coincidentally, Debbie Ocean needed a very secret place that no one would ever visit, to hide with the rest of her team.(Basically: the ocean's 8 ladies go into Hill House and things get spooky. the Crain Family will probably show up. Debbie and Lou are idiots in love. I love Tammy. And they all will experience things we watched on the show. i promise i will explain everything and things will hopefully make sense as the story moves on)





	1. Introduction

The set of keys fell on the table with an obnoxious metallic noise, and the sound would ring in the ears of the group for long after, as if reminding them of the omens they didn’t listen to.

“There you have it,” Lou declared with her impeccable balance of pride and indifference, “Perfect hideout.”

“What is it?” Tammy asked, eyeing the keys suspiciously.

“Didn’t you hear what I just said?”

“Lou,” Debbie stepped in, “what is it?”

Perfectly able to pick up on Debbie’s impatience by the way she emphasized each word, Lou gave in - not without playing hard to get first. She stepped back from the table and took her sweet time in preparing her words. Meanwhile, her eyes scanned the room, seven women - eight including her - together once again. Brought together by fear and desperation and a job gone terribly, terribly wrong. They needed to escape and they couldn’t be found, not for a long time. They were all hoping for heaven. How silly, Lou thought, considering they all seem to come straight from hell.

“It’s a house. A big one. It’s empty. It’s been that way for a long ass time and it will remain that way for twice as long… nobody will notice we’re there,” she assured the group. “I stole the keys from a friend I met in Boston.”

“Friend?” Debbie inquired with practiced carelessness.

“A good friend.”

“I bet,” Tammy whispered, “good friends for a few hours one Saturday night?”

Lou slammed her hands on the wooden table. One of her rings making a dent on the surface. “You could always try hiding in jail! Debbie knows a nice place.”

Her outburst startled the entire group. Constance nearly fell from the chair where she had been balancing, and Rose’s hand dramatically flew to her chest.

“Alright, alright,” Debbie nodded, “We’ll try it. What is the trick, though, what’s the matter with the house?”

Of course she had to ask. She would have been a fool to expect something perfect. However, halfway through her question Lou had started to walk away. When she was reaching the stairs, she turned around quickly to address the group smugly once more.

“The place is kind of haunted,” she shrugged. “Nine Ball, look up _Hill House._ ”

Everybody turned towards the hacker to see what came up on her laptop screen. Debbie, however, kept her eyes on Lou long enough to catch the wink the blonde woman sent her way. When did they all lost control of… everything? she wondered.


	2. Alone, Alone, Alone

The journey to Hill House was long, long enough for Debbie to write two lists. One for the things that brought them there. Another for the things that’d get them out of there. She was scribbling away in the passenger seat of the old car that Lou, who had refuse to get rid of it even after they became millionaires, was driving. On the back of it, Constance and Rose, surrounded by piles of luggage, were immersed in one of the master classes the younger one gave about all things technology and social media. This meant Debbie didn’t have to worry about them bothering her or trying to read the lists they wouldn’t be able to decipher anyway. The same couldn’t be said about Lou. The blonde woman was driving seemingly relaxed, but there was a small frown and a barely noticeable tilt on her lips that revealed to Debbie her partner had something troubling in mind. And it was just a matter of time for her to speak up. Effectively… 

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah?”

“I mean, about Tammy sharing her car with Nine Ball and Daphne. You know how they feel about her.”

That was true, Debbie was aware of the fact that Tammy’s endearing presence, couple with the layers upon layers of mysteries, was a temptation for anybody. She was aware that Nine Ball was charmed by the single mother with the enchanting laugh, who was so different from her but so perfect to have as company. She was also aware that Daphne hadn’t been able to shake off the fact that Tammy had been probably the first person to stand up to her when they first met. Indifference, is an aphrodisiac. _I also know how you feel about her,_ Debbie wanted to say, _the tender heart that’s been there to soften your sharp edges, isn’t she?_

“Why would I have a problem with that?” Debbie settled with.

To which Lou didn’t reply. Though she did glance at the rearview mirror to confirm that Rose’s head had snapped up at the mention of the gorgeous celebrity who they all knew broke her heart.

 

“Are you sure you don’t want just one try?” Nine Ball asked again.

“No!” Tammy exclaimed alarmed, “I mean, yes. I’m sure I don’t want to smoke with you, thank you very much.”

Though she’d have to admit her heart had been beating a little faster than normal during the entire car ride for a few reasons.

“What about…” Daphne started saying with her most seductive voice, “You sit here with me and let Amita take the wheel.”

“Amita doesn’t know how to drive…” Tammy replied, breathlessly.

That was reason number two for her quickened heartbeat. Daphne was on the back seat right behind her, and her hands had slipped towards the front seat and were currently massaging Tammy’s shoulders and moving towards her neck. Since the younger woman’s relationship with Rose had turned… awkward, Daphne had tried to flirt with any human being that crossed her path, Tammy was one of her favorite preys.

“Part of me regrets getting in this car, you know” Amita asked out loud, but mostly speaking to herself, not waiting for answers. “But I know that if Constance was here, you would have crashed the car already.”

“Oh calm down,” Tammy assured her. “I have everything under control. I’m a responsible mother that leaves her kids behind with their aunt because I need to run from the police, no big deal. Besides, we’re almost there.”

Tammy finished her words confidently, but things changed a second later. As if they had just moved into an invisible tunnel, Tammy’s head suddenly felt underwater. The chatter that started again inside the car felt miles away. Her eyes, previously focused on the road, had drifted to the side. There among the trees was standing a little kid. Was it a boy or a girl? Surely they were about the age of Tammy’s own children. The little kid was frozen in place, staring lifelessly at the car as it passed by. Tammy’s head turned slightly to watch them as the car passed by the kid. Then she took a breath, leaving that strange and cold space behind as if she was coming up for air.

“We’re almost there,” she repeated in a whisper. Nobody heard her.

 

Would it be senseless to claim that the breeze in that place blew angrily? Debbie resisted pulling her coat tighter around her, not wanting to appear weak to a place she didn’t know yet.

“Hill House,” Debbie acknowledged it as the stared at the sign in front of them.

“ _Hell_ House,” Tammy addressed the graffitied word.

“So that’s where Tammy comes from.”

Lou’s playful remark got lost without a fight when a loud screech cut off any chance of conversation.

“Look at that!” Constance exclaimed, “it’s open!”

She had fallen down in front of the door of the house and Nine Ball was beside her, trying to hold back her laugh and get her friend back up on her feet after they obviously opened the doors before they were supposed to.

Immediately after the eight women stepped into the house they felt their chests tighten with the realization that their hideout would require so much more work than they had expected. Mother Nature had messily stumbled into the house and now all kinds of weeds and tree branches had made their home into Hill House. The place was dirty, half destroyed and somewhat terrifying.

A few gasps and displeased murmurs moved between them and Debbie leaned in to whisper to Lou, “Did you bring any guns?” she asked as she pulled out her own weapon. The response she received was a silent eyebrow rise. “Give me two and take yours as well,” she demanded, handing out flashlights as well.

“Alright, this is what we’re going to do,” Debbie announced to her team, “We’re splitting up in pairs to make sure the place is safe and take note of what needs to be done for us to live here.”

She took a gun from Lou and placed it in Tammy’s awaiting palm. Decades of partnership, trust and silent agreements showing off. Instantly after, Nine Ball’s hand appeared possessively on Tammy’s shoulder and Daphne cheerfully volunteered to go with her.

“Tammy, you go with Amita,” Debbie ordered, and nodded at them to move to the right side of the house.

“Nine Ball and Daphne, I want you out of the house,” Debbie declared next, enjoying the spark of confusion on the women’s face until she offered the hacker another gun so they could take a look at the surroundings of the house.

“Lou and Rose go upstairs and Constance and I will move this way. Let’s go everybody.”

 

Too many bugs, too much dirt. Too dark for early morning, too unsettling to breathe easily. Amita’s entire body was trembling as she followed Tammy through an unnecessary number of rooms and dark hallways. Plus, the silhouette of Tammy, sweet Tammy, carrying a gun again after being retired for years, was actually worrying.

“Amita, do you think that house is really haunted?” Tammy asked.

“No, no, of course not,” she replied. “You saw all the info Nine Ball pulled out of the internet, it was just rumors, gossip, whatever.”

When they reached the kitchen, a couple of rats ran away past them. Amita shirked away in surprise and disgust, but Tammy barely flinched, except for the fact she got her gun ready. It was a small kitchen, for such a big house, they realized. It wasn’t doing too bad, they’d probably be able to recover the space that same day for dinner if Debbie decided it to be a priority.

“How are you and Debbie, by the way?” Amita inquired.

She had known Debbie for a long time, but they had never worked so close together as they did with the Met Gala. So, Amita only knew bits and pieces of Debbie Ocean’s extraordinary life and hectic relationships. One day Debbie and Tammy were two halves of a whole, the next day an eccentric Australian was beside Debbie wherever she went. One day she was living with a shady looking guy, and the next she was jail. Now they were all in a haunted house.

“We’re just old friends, Amita. This time it’ll stay like that, I’m certain.”

Tammy replied as she moved leaves and pots around with the tip of her gun. She tried the oven, the sink, and refrigerator. Everything was in a poor state, but mostly, they suspiciously worked. Tammy’s comments, however, weren’t being listened too. Amita was lost staring out the kitchen’s window. She was watching as a little boy of blonde hair and a little girl in a blue dress had a quiet conversation near the woods.

“Okay,” she sighed and the two of them moved away from the kitchen.

 

Nine Ball’s boots were crushing the leaves and finer branches she stepped on as she walked the perimeter of Hill House, with Daphne stumbling every few steps behind her.

“So… you like Tammy,” Daphne said with a melodic voice.

“I guess. She’s beautiful. And it gets Debbie and Lou outraged, so I love that,” Nine Ball laughed, “you don’t like her though.”

“ _What?!_ ” Debbie shouted as she nearly fell down once again. “Of course I do! She’s just my type!”

When she finished talking, however, Daphne crashed against Nine Ball’s back. When she looked around, she understood the reason. They had walked right into a patch of the property that was decked with gravestones.“ _Poppy Hill_ ” was the name right under Nine Ball’s feet.

“ _Really, darling?_ ” Nine Ball's mouth opened and a strange voice came out, “ _I thought your type were older ladies with a passion for distasteful clothing, and just the right amount of bad friends to get into your head and play with you, confuse and darken your heart and leave you alone, alone, alone._ ”

“You sound weird,” Daphne stated and turned her back on Nine Ball.

The frightened woman stumbled away from the grave and roughly cleared her throat, trying to make sense of what just happened to her. Those weren’t her words, that wasn’t her voice, that was… a really weird incident that didn’t mean the house was haunted. Ghosts aren’t real, she reminded herself.

“Ugh I wonder if these dogs plan on making so much noise every night.”

Daphne’s complaint made Nine Ball realize that she could hear the barking and howling of dogs as well, even if they hadn’t seen one yet. They had arrived at Hill House very early that morning, so they could get most work done with the daylight. Traces of a dark night still seemed to hang from the trees, and from those patches of darkness came the sound of angry, restless dogs.

 

Behind the door, a pair of small beds and even remnants of old toys and decorations welcomed Lou, who walked in with gun held in front of her and Rose trailing behind her.

“Right. So, I asked her for a second chance. She said no, of course. You understand?” Rose continued to ramble as Lou checked the rest of the rooms. “I asked her for just one more day, then. A chance to explain everything over dinner, right?”

Lou listened patiently, but stayed silent. She wasn't in a position to give relationship advice, and Rose would just continue to talk unprompted. Meanwhile they checked three more rooms, each one in shambles and with single beds left behind. The windows were broken and the sun rays entered almost shyly, unwelcomed, reflecting beautifully in the shards on the ground.

“I tried to get it all out in one breath, basically. It's not my fault, I said. I was going to jail, I needed the money, they were pretty convincing!” Rose repeated the words she had used to plead for Daphne’s forgiveness for lying about her intentions when they met, “I didn't know you would be you. I didn't know we…”

Rose’s voice drifted off, weighted down by sadness and a hint of hopelessness that she actually did not want to acknowledge. Her head had lowered, as if from her neck was hanging the heavy mountain of lies and falsehood that she had presented to Daphne for most of the time they had known each other. Sadly, the younger woman was too blinded by betrayal to appreciate the shiny peak of love in the mountain of emotions that Rose felt for her. 

Distracted heavily by her emotions, Rose ended up knocking against Lou, who steadied her on her feet and open her mouth, looking gravely as if she was about to say something serious, something meaningful, some words of encouragement… 

“Don’t you think it’s _fucking cold_ in here?”

Not knowing what to answer at her friend’s outburst, Rose’s eyes drifted to a place above Lou’s shoulder, “Lou, hey, I think the statue behind you moved while we were talking.”

“Huh… this house is so cold…”

Apparently they were doomed to not know how to keep a normal conversation.

 

There was only a duo left exploring the house, Debbie and Constance were standing in a strange room while the leader pinched the bridge of her nose to fight a headache and the youngest admired the staircase in front of them.

“Dope. I always wanted a house with a spiral staircase.”

“Really?” Debbie wondered, “Hey, careful going up. There’s ropes hanging around. That’s so... dangerous… This room… feels so wrong.”

Constance was skipping up the stairs, but Debbie was struggling with each step. Her very sudden headache had turned nearly unbearable, and every step brought her a different kind of pain. She was moving up, but when her feet pressed down on a step she heard something breaking against the floor below her. When she looked, nothing was there. On the next step, the more her feet pressed down on it, the more she felt a kind of pressure closing around her throat. She nearly jumped to the next step and continued to rush through the rest, because with each one she listened to very distinct screams and cries of sorrow. She was aware they were in her mind, but she could feel the sounds coming from somewhere around her, from heartbroken people she couldn’t see. It felt like a dream, but she was awake. _Wasn’t she?_

“Stay away from there!” Debbie shouted then, harshly pulling the back of Constance jacket, “Don’t stand on the edge like that! It makes me…”

Words failed her, and Debbie only made gestures that symbolized her anxiety. The young woman laughed and followed the instructions, then she stepped into one more dirty and nature-invaded hallway, with one surprise at the end.

“Look at that!” she exclaimed, “Damn. This door is so red it’s scary.”

“Yeah, it really is…”

Debbie felt in a daze, her headache was barely receding, but the impeccable red door looked so out of place and eerie that it got her moving even faster than Constance to turn the knob. It didn’t open though, no matter how hard they tried.

“This can’t be right. We have to open it. Plus, now I’m curious.”

“Curiosity killed the cat, mom,” Constance remarked. “Don’t worry though, I’ll open it. My personal duty while we stay here.”

With a mocking salute, Constance sealed her promise and walked away. But Debbie was frozen in place, her eyes glued to the mysterious red door that she took as the first challenge in that new place. The house and its rooms were strangers to Debbie and her team as much as the women were strangers to the building, and one of them would unavoidably have to yield to the other. The fight for survival was just starting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Amita take the wheel!  
> There's something in me that makes me physically unable to _not_ add a little bit of comedy   
> Anyway, I'm trying longer chapters for this fic. And I already feel like it's my best one yet, Hopefully...   
> Let me know what you guys think so far!


	3. Eloquence and Exigency

_Theo sat up in her bed, exposing her bare back in all its glory. She stretched her muscles, raised her arms above her head, then she made a move to reach for her gloves on her nightstand…_

_“Don’t fucking bother, Theo. If you want, you can sleep on your own couch, but this time I’m too tired to leave this bed until morning,” Lou grumbled._

_The threat made Theo immediately chuckle, and the accent made her skin tingle again. After an instant of hesitation, she gave up the gloves. Lou was… difficult to put into words. She was complicated, unique, strange, a little bit of everything, but she didn’t hide any of that. In consequence, Theo’s sensibility didn’t spark up violently when in contact with Lou, who was always so open and uncomplicated about who she was and what she felt. Lou’s only secrets, illegal activities and a certain brunette currently in jail, were already familiar to Theo._

_“You can just say you enjoy my company, you know?” Theo laughed as she laid down again._

_“I do,” Lou shrugged nonchalantly. “But you’re yet to admit I’m the best you’ve ever had.”_

_“Please…”_

_Theo scoffed and rolled her eyes. But they were both well aware that Lou’s teasing held sharp truths underneath. Lou could be nonchalant, but Theo was just disregarding of everything about sincere emotions. Theo’s freezing cold silence would have suffocated anybody else sharing the bed with her, but Lou was confident and comfortable, unaffected by Theo’s defensiveness and actually curious about the nature of such an hermetically closed off person._

_“I’m curious,” she shared out loud, pushing herself up on an elbow to stare at Theo. “I’m really fucking curious about… you. I’m not asking, though. But just so you know, I’d like to know… about you.”_

_“Your eloquence and exigency impresses me, Lou.”_

_Lou laughed mildly and leaned down to kiss up the side of Theo’s neck, finishing up with a small bite that had the other woman humming appreciatively. While the blonde had been busy in such ministrations, Theo had reached out again to her nightsant, this time into the drawer, where she fumbled for the object she kept as hidden as possible while keeping it always close._

_When Lou pulled away, she stared in wonder as the light in Theo’s eyes dimmed and for the first time since they met she looked nervous._

_“Lou, do you believe in ghosts?”_

_“Fuck no.”_

_Theo laughed but the sound felt empty, it crashed against the clatter of the set of keys which she was playing with._

_“Great, then I think I’m going to tell you a really boring story…”_

 

Four axes fell down aggressively down to the wild tree roots that were invading the living room of Hill House. Lou, leading the team; Constance, still moving a limp on her right feet; Nine Ball, moving lazily and enjoying breaking things a little too much; and Daphne, determined to prove her daily work out sessions were worth something. They were chewing out the life inside those walls, clearing out the space so they could camp together in that wide space before venturing out into the vastness of the house.

The other half of the team picked up brooms, a hose, and extreme cleaning supplies so they could make available the kitchen and at least a bathroom. Debbie entertained herself kicking rats and swatting insects away and out of the house. Tammy put to the test unexpected knowledge with home appliances giving life to the kitchen. Rose might have flooded the bathroom, but when she was done the place wasn’t so frightening. Lastly, Amita passed through the hallways and rooms they were using like a hurricane, taking out the dirt and trash they created.

By the time their stomachs demanded lunch, they were free to visit the bathroom, still skeptical about the cleanness of the kitchen counter and the living room was mostly free of trees. They had worked in silenced, mostly, but the silence that engulfed them while trying to enjoy their pre prepared meal was a different business. The sharp silence between Rose and Daphne seemed like an intelligent force that took their friends as quiet hostages. The daggers that Lou and Tammy shot each other, playful and then not so playfully, sometimes failed in their aim that cut through innocent witnesses. Debbie had resolved to rolling her eyes unconsciously every few seconds, it was a reflex.

Nine Ball was the only one mostly unaffected by it all. “Has any of you guys seen a ghost yet or not?” she chuckled before taking a bite of her food.

“Yeah, actually! I’m pretty sure I saw a really pretty lady with a headband waving at us from upstairs.”

Constance comment was rewarded with a hit at her head from Debbie.

“Talking about ghosts is nonsense. We can’t possibly consider this house to be anything like haunted.” Debbie declared.

“But there were these two kids outside…”

“I saw one on the way here.”

“Pretty sure Nine Ball was lightly possessed at some point.”

“And I swear the statue moved!”

“ _Enough!_ ” Debbie interrupted her team harshly. “This is a waste of time, it’s stupid and it's not going to make our stay here any easier. Any talk about ghosts is banned from now on.”

That was Debbie’s first law since they arrived at Hill House, and it was listened and taken seriously for about four seconds until Nine Ball broke the silence once again.

“I bet you all I can prove this place isn’t haunted and ghost aren’t real.”

Her declaration raised clamor around the group and the bets started to grow in the same proportion as Debbie’s irritation. They managed to finish their lunch and rest briefly before resuming their duties.

It turned out they weren’t so bad at cleaning up houses. It the course of the afternoon they had cleared out most of the first floor, covered up the broken windows and left the kitchen sufficiently clean. The group faced only minor inconveniences and arguments that day. When Debbie “accidentally” sprayed water at Daphne when the actress crossed the line of desperation and stepped on dangerous territories trying to flirt with Lou. When Lou drove her axe into a door instead of a tree root when she caught sight of Debbie and Tammy simply talking. When Rose flooded the bathroom again, unintentionally on that occasion. In the end, Debbie took hold of her leadership and before the sun setted, she declared them all done for the day, free to do as they pleased until they went to sleep. Work would begin early the next day and before they dared explore the upper floor they’d be taking sleeping bags all together in the living room.

Most of them retired without complaints to whatever personal activities they had planned. Nine Ball, for example, started taking all her technological equipment out of the cars to come up with ways in which she could win the bet. Constance, on the other hand, couldn’t exactly function without something to do. And she seemed determined to bothering Debbie until the leader of the group gave her something to do.

“Come on, mom, there has to be something you need me to do!”

“First of all, don’t call me ‘mom’. Second, you’re free to do whatever you want, and that’s exactly what I want you to do.”

Their argument crossed the living room until Debbie stopped at the door of the house.

“This place is in ruins, mom! There has to be something you need from me.”

“Fine! Take a flashlight, go upstairs and… make sure we’re still safe. I don’t want any wild animals, dangerous insects, whatever.”

“Ghosts?”

“Go!” Debbie ordered.

She stood still and watched Constance make her way to the stairs. The sound of broken wood caught her attention and her eyes were drawn to Lou still hard at work cleaning up the house of all unwanted invasion from Mother Nature. A spark of concern lit up inside Debbie before she walked out of the house.

“Lou?” she called out softly. “Please go with Constance? You know…”

_Keep her safe, don’t let her do anything stupid, don’t you do anything stupid._

“Sure,” Lou replied nonchalantly, for a handful of reasons. First, Debbie called out the orders around, but Lou was her partner, in one way or another, and at least she had earned the privilege of a “please”. Second, Debbie’s request made sense. Perhaps a consequence of Constance deciding to call them “moms”, but they had genuinely grown protective of the younger woman. Third, would she really be able to say no to Debbie?

They were more familiar with the structure of the house now. The worn out carpet, the damaged walls, the unsettling presence of otherwise common furniture left behind, and the brave statues that had resisted the pass of time. While Constance’s flashlight visited every corner of every room, making unnecessarily dramatic turns and use of comical sound effects, Lou found herself transfixed by the small details of the house. She studied the door knobs shaped like lion heads, the ancient pipe or tube for communication inside the house found in one of the bedrooms, things like that.

Her ultimate distraction though, was Debbie. The sight of Debbie walking into one of the bedrooms.

“Debbie?” Lou called out as she started to follow her. “Debbie!”

“Oh no,” Constance tried to tell her. “Debbie went outside…”

Her explanation got cut short though, for she got distracted as well. She had been standing in front a closed door, a room she had just walked out of. But unless she had lost her mind, Constance was absolutely sure the doorknob was being turned. She was paralyzed an instant, and then she jumped to action, holding the doorknob on her hand, feeling it twist even as she held it. Panic reach her and she considered crying out for help. But if Debbie wanted her to make sure they were all safe…

Caught by lightning of sudden purpose, Constance closed her eyes, opened the door and jumped inside. When she opened her eyes and tried to scream, no sound came out of her. She was in the middle of a well-kept, apparently recently decorated bedroom. Twin beds were inside, toys were scattered around and a pair of small bodies were resting in the beds, breathing softly.

She closed her eyes tightly, walked backwards as quick as she could and she didn’t stop until she knocked against the door on the other side of the hallway. When Constance opened her eyes the door in front of her was closed.

The only thing that managed to tear her eyes away from there was Lou’s voice, still calling out for Debbie, now at the other end from the hallway, the other direction from where she had turned a few seconds ago. A few seconds… Constance thought years had passed…

“How the fuck did you get here so fast?!” Lou found herself shouting into an empty hallway.

There was no sight of Debbie, even if she had been so sure to see her turn in that exact direction a few seconds ago. What she found instead startled her. The whole house had been a mess, covered in dead leaves and dirt, but at the end of the hallway stood a pristine red door. Lou walked towards it, almost hypnotized. She held the doorknob and felt chills move through her body. She couldn’t exactly explain it, but she was invaded by the certainty that beyond the door, three… people, beings, essences… three of something were waiting for her on the other side of that red door.

Lou shook the door knob, she fought it with it, knocked her body against the door, but it was useless, it was locked. She knocked her body against it again, again, not so sure about why she felt she desperately needed to get through. 

“Mom! Hey! It’s locked!” Constance shouted, coming up behind her.

“Well we have to open it.”

“I will,” Constance shrugged. “I’m an expert.”

“So am I!”

“Then don’t worry. Well get to it, let’s go back downstairs.”

Before descending the stairs, Lou took a moment to stare out the wide window, her eyes easily spotting Debbie in the wide expanse of the disheveled grounds of the house. Debbie stopped instantly and looked up straight at her, as if their eyes were magnetic, unavoidably finding each other regardless of the distance. So, Debbie really was outside, not on the hallway where Lou had just chased her…

Debbie was frowning. She had seen Lou up there, a sight which usually would have sparked a smile on her lips. But when her eyes really focused on Lou, Debbie was able to see the second blonde head next to her. Debbie couldn’t make out the face, but there was only another woman with that shade of hair, and apparently Tammy was cozily draping herself over Lou, whispering on her ear…

“Lou? Are you okay?” Constance called out from the middle of the stairs. Noticing the other woman standing paralyzed and alone in front of the windows.

 

The first day at Hill House was soon over. But the first night was a whole different business. The eight women that had taken up the house were all gathered in what would be the main hall of the house, in front of the great set of stairs, scattered around in sleeping bags. So far they only truly enabled a few rooms to the right, including the kitchen and a small bathroom that was a pain to share between eight. And they were still figuring out the electricity factor, leaving them with rare working lightbulbs and a handful of candles around.

Debbie stubbornly made a round through the house by herself, trying to calm the unsettling feeling that the space gave her. When she was coming down the stairs, staring down at her complete team, a strong sense of protectiveness overtook her so violently it almost threw her off her feet. There they were, seven women, who all had risked their lives, or at the very least their reputation and freedom for her. Sure, maybe they did it all for their own personal reasons, but they could have found other ways, found someone else. They all trusted Debbie. They all trusted Debbie would keep them safe and hidden until she could get them out of the mess they had made.

Would they ever be able to go back out into the world? Would they ever be safe outside?

“What are you doing?” Debbie asked Nine Ball as soon as she got to the bottom of the stairs.

The hacker was finishing setting up a camera looking over the group.

“First step in proving to these little girls that there are no ghosts in here.”

“This looks like a pretty simple camera for that…”

“Don’t touch it!” Nine Ball scolded the other woman, also swatting the curious hand away. “I know what I’m doing so…”

Nine Ball made dismissing gestures with her hands, making Debbie walk away with a smile. A second after, Tammy was at her side.

“Hey, where are you going?”

“I’ll settle down by the door because-”

Debbie was cut short by Tammy pulling her by a hand on her arm. That made Debbie actually stop walking to look down and notice Lou, smirking up at her from her spot on the floor by the door. She looked already more than comfortable in the sleeping bag that unsurprisingly seemed too small for her striking figure.

“Going anywhere?” Lou asked with her smug grin in place and her arms behind her head. “Don’t mind me. I’m just here at the front line of defense. I was wondering if you’d like to join, but I guess you won’t…”

“No, that’s great! Perfect, that’s good, good,” Debbie replied while walking backwards, letting Tammy guide her through the rest of the sleeping bags. “Good, good, everything’s great. Everyone just…“

“Debbie!” Tammy shouted her name in order to finally stop her. “If you walk away any further you’ll sleep on the stairs.” At that Debbie glanced behind her and saw the first step almost touching her heels. “I wouldn’t have guessed Lou terrified you so much!”

“She doesn’t!” Debbie hissed as quietly as possible.

“And I would have thought you’d be already comfortable sleeping… _next_ to Lou?”

“Shut up! Let’s just… sleep.”

While getting ready for “bed” Debbie continued to hear Tammy chuckling. While falling asleep, there were still traces floating in the air of chatter among the group, plus the sounds of the woods and the stray dogs that probably rounded the property. Deep in her slumber, Debbie still could hear - _feel_ \- the sounds the house made. Creaking floors, squeaking doors, the brush of leaves all over the place and… Tammy’s voice.

“ _Scattered into so many… a stomach… all of us…_ ”

Tammy’s lips mumbled out words and pieces of odd sentences. As Debbie rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, the rest of the group also started to wake up and listen, listen while their friend continued to talk in her sleep.

“ _Confetti… like a small creature… stand in the rain…_ ”

Every word that escaped Tammy’s lips seemed to echo around the whole house even though she was whispering softly. Eventually the entire group was standing around her, observing her in silence.

“ _... much I want to say to… a treehouse… I learned a secret, there’s no…_ ”

“Does she… did she use to talk in her sleep?” Amita quietly asked Debbie, who looked uncomfortable answering about her ex’s sleeping habits with Lou standing so close to her their shoulder touched, and Tammy was literally laying in front of them.

“No. Never,” Debbie answered nonetheless.

“ _We are in the red room!_ ”

That exclamation slipped out of Tammy’s mouth with such force that it sent her up in a sitting position as her mind scrambled to wake up. Her eyes struggled to open up and what she first saw were seven dark silhouettes, as expected. But these were seven strangers. Of that she was more than certain, though she wouldn’t know how to explain it. However, as soon as she blinked, the strangers were gone and in their place were the seven women she had arrived at the house with. That made up eight women overflowing with questions and doubts about how good of an idea moving to Hill House actually was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i want to share that for some reason writing this was kind of difficult? I don't know I lost inspiration and then i was super busy and then i had writers block and apparently i didn't plan these first chapters enough. but the good news is that i had the last chapters all planned out. now let's hope i find a way to get there lmao  
> also let me know if something's weird/if there's something i should explain. though most things will be answered through the story i promise  
> anyway i love writing this. i'm more invested than expected. so i hope you guys like it! please let me know what you think and what you'd like to see


	4. Unfair

_10\. R.I.P._ : for the time Debbie came up with a plan so good it ended being greater than she was capable of, at the time.

_9\. The Show_ : for the final argument that broke Rose and Daphne apart, unbalancing the entire team.

_8\. Achilles_ : for the time Constance pushed herself too hard during a job and then kept to herself how hurt she truly was, letting it affect her in their next job.

_7\. Ashes_ : for the time Amita’s new boyfriend cheated and robbed her, so Debbie had to get revenge for her, plus take Amita back to Lou’s place.

_6\. Dominos 1 & 2_: for Lou finding out just how serious Debbie and Tammy’s past relationship had been. Plus, Debbie not finding out something, just feeling there was something she had to find out.

_5\. Burning plastic_ : for the day they actually tried to pull off the heist and Nine Ball gets arrested.

_4\. The Jungle_ : for saving Nine Ball before she gets to jail, blowing off all their covers, and basically ruining everything.

_3\. Winter_ : for the definite night when all the women settled down at what used to be Lou’s club.

_2\. Aloof_ : for Lou coming up with their salvation, the key of Hill House and her previously unknown story with a woman of the last name Crain.

_1\. Colony_ : for their arrival at Hill House.

Satisfied with her review of one of her lists, Debbie sighed and started pacing the small room. It was day number two in Hill House and the simple act of existing in that space was proving to be a complete challenge on its own. Although they had cleared most of the first floor on their first day, it seemed that whatever chaos was housed on the upper floor had fallen down on them while they were sleeping. They were almost back to zero. And still, Debbie had to send most of the group outside. In her mind, Hill House was an ordinary construction and the real dangers of the world where on the wilderness outside, so the team was on duty for some heavy gardening that day. Of course. How could have Debbie guessed that the greatest menace for her and her friends was the house itself?

Halfway through the morning, a terrible headache had claimed Debbie’s as its victim. She left her team behind, trusted on their better judgement and got lost in the hallways of the house, looking for a quiet, private spot for her. Her relief came in the form of a small room just for her. Dusty, messy, abandoned. Full of old books, odd papers, resilient wood bookshelves. It was an office, correction, it was her office. She cleared the surface of the desk and did her best in cleaning up an old chair so she’d barely cringed when she sat down on it. 

After some minutes of silence and the receding of the headache, Debbie started going over the lists she had assembled on the car ride to Hill House. First, she read over the list of things that had brought her there. It was countdown to a disaster and the mess of the outcome hung heavy on her shoulders. She stopped pacing the small room and stood by single rectangular window right in the middle of wall across from the door. She looked out and was filled with a strange emotion, as if she were falling asleep, perhaps waking up. She felt somnolent and she didn’t like it one bit. To keep herself present and awake, she continued reading her second list. This one actually resembled a to-do list, things she’d have to accomplish to get herself out of the place where she ended up.

_1\. Bare_ : they’ll have to meet Hill House, assess the damage, make it liveable enough.

_2\. Hurricanes_ : they’ll have to conquer Hill House, transform it so they can actually live comfortably for as long as they need.

_3\. E.R._ : they’ll have to address the physical and emotional damage each of them have gone through.

_4\. I.C.U._ : they’ll actually have to try to heal, make amends, move forward.

_5\. ****_ : Debbie will have to find out everything, about the woman in Boston, about Tammy, about herself, about…

_6\. Lou: …_

That was where Debbie’s latest list ended, that’s where all her lists always ended, that’s where all her rational thoughts ended. _Lou, Lou, Lou._ Her lover and not her lover. Her partner and not her partner. Her everything and her nothing at all.

Debbie, like her entire family, had never been good about differentiating her personal and professional lives. Maybe it was impossible, considering their… line of work. Everything was vague, everything was manipulable. There were always hidden motives and there were always escape plans. Needless to say it was nearly impossible to even fathom a romantic relationship under such conditions. Not to say there weren't special cases, Debbie knew them well enough. What she didn’t know, however, was that if being the same kind of deceiving people helped a couple stay strong of just definitely pulled them apart.

She had some valuable experience in she shape of a clever, multifaceted, timid and fidgety one second and then bold and challenging the next, best friend named Tammy. All things considered they were still friends, Debbie was godmother of Tammy’s kids. They didn’t end up too badly, did they? Maybe it depended on who and when answered the question. Somedays the answer would be _they were fine, they were friends_. Other days the answer would be i _t had been awful, they’d never forgive each other_. Or, _nothing ever happened between them_. Or, _they weren’t actually over, were they?_ Endless possibilities between those two.

A different question was why it was so different with Lou? Why everything had to be so different with Lou? Why Lou? Why? Why was Debbie smiling, just by thinking up her name?

With Lou, it had been already more than fifteen years of _I love you but I’d die before saying it out loud_ , and _I’d die for you and that’s the only thing we know for sure_. More than fifteen years of _I’m not your partner yet_ , and _maybe just one night_ , and _please, baby, don’t stop_. Problem is, their time had also been full of _it’s okay, Debbie, she’s just a friend_ , and _don’t worry, Lou, I trust Claude_ and the unavoidable _Tammy? What does Tammy have to do with this?_

 

 

Meanwhile, obviously, it just so happened that an Australian woman and a single mother of two ran into each other on a nearby hallway.

“Lou” Tammy exclaimed upon almost crashing against the taller woman after rounding a corner.

“Yes, that’s me. And you are…”

“Have you seen Debbie?” Tammy asked, after a rolling her eyes at the other woman.

“I haven’t. But as soon as I’m done talking to her, I’ll let her know you’re looking for her.”

Afterwards there was just silence. _If looks could kill…_

“Actually,” Debbie’s voice brought them out of their stare down as she appeared from a different hallway, “I was just looking for Tammy.”

Said woman had to bite her lip to restrain the devilish grin that otherwise would have made an appearance to infinitely mock the defeated woman in front of her. Her eyes, however, revealed the full extent of her amusement. And Lou didn’t agree in the slightest. She blinked once, fixed her practiced relaxed smirk on her lips and turned around, left the old friends alone.

An instant later, Tammy skipped victoriously towards Debbie’s side. The older one was entertained, clearly. But she attempted to scold her friend, “Really?” she said, “did you actually made a goal out making everything more difficult for us?”

“More or less,” Tammy shrugged, “I have my reasons.”

They both knew that. Debbie didn’t even know all of those reasons. But she knew that Tammy’s words were charged of so much history and her eyes charged of so much truth. She couldn’t stand to hold her stare. “I was thinking… You are the only mother in the group, you packed the first aid kit…”

“Don’t be shy, Debbie, look me in the eyes.” Of course Tammy wouldn’t let her get away with avoiding her eyes.

“When did you get so difficult, Tammy?”

“When I realized I was always a second choice for you,” Tammy replied without hesitation, “When Lou decided that she hated me and I carried some sort of original sin just because I loved you first, Debbie” It always unsettled Debbie how easily the other woman talked about love, their past, their mistakes and all things she had a hard time even thinking of. “When you pulled me out of retirement, back into this chaos, away from my own kids, and into a haunted house of all places! When I remembered I used to be your partner, Debbie, not just a piece of your puzzle, not just one more member of the team. I’m not below you, Debbie, we’re looking eye to eye now. It’d be unfair-”

“Are you sure?” Debbie interrupted her.

“What?”

“ _Unfair_. Is that the word you want to use?” Debbie said, taking a step towards Tammy and pleased to watch her flinch almost imperceptibly. “Because, from where I stand, you’re actually pretty fucking special, you know?” As she talked, Debbie took slow, deliberate steps and eventually corned Tammy against the wall. “You’re saying that despite some of my priorities changing over the years, you’re the only constant. The only one I always come back to. The only one who can make Lou jealous. Indulging my will every so often seems a small price to pay for the privileges you have, Tammy.”

At that point, Debbie had her arms resting on the wall on each sides of Tammy’s head. Tammy, who was having trouble breathing steadily. Personal space was a long forgotten concept. Tammy knew very well that she couldn’t fight Debbie’s spell, deny her words or stop herself from giving up everything every time Debbie got close enough. _If she moved just a little closer…_

Tammy very suddenly turned her head to the right and stared at the end of the hallway. Alarmed, Debbie replicated the movement, plus she instantly pulled away from Tammy and took two steps backwards. By the time she understood that she fell for the trick, there was no one with them on the hallway and Lou hadn’t caught them in the compromising position, it was too late. Tammy had noticed her urgent reaction and her expression of a deer caught in the headlights.

“But there’s always Lou,” Tammy whispered, somewhat sadly. “You’re a terrible person, Debbie.” That she said sounding actually proud, sarcastically or sincerely. “But you’re also the greatest friend I’ve ever had.”

When she finished talking, Tammy held up between them a small bottle of pills for Debbie’s headache. Always perfect timing. Debbie gratefully took the small bottle. She hoped, as much as she doubted, that it’d be a peace offering. Would a kiss on the cheek be inappropriate?

Before she figured out the answer Tammy had already started walking away.

 

 

Daphne cried out in pain. The weeds of the garden had grown messily and although the group had made great advances in clearing out the areas closer to the house, it was still pretty much a disaster. Daphne feet had gotten tangled somewhere along the way and when she tripped and fell, her right knee made contact with a rock, the pain was immediate.

She took a sharp intake of air and closed her eyes tightly, hoping her body was crying out because of surprise and embarrassment with herself, and that the damage would be minimal. When she open her eyes again she cringed for a whole different reason. The person working closest to her had heard her scream and rushed to her aid.

Rose pushed through the grass and kneeled in front of Daphne, “Are you okay?” she asked with urgent concern.

“I’m _fine_ ,” Daphne rolled her eyes. “It’s nothing. I can go find Tammy, she’ll help me.”

Daphne’s smile was proud and the emphasis she made on their friend’s name was not lost on Rose. But when she tried to stand up, her pain made her look down to her knee and see that her pants had been ripped and a hint of blood was showing.

“Oh God, oh God, oh _God_ ,” Daphne shrieked and held up her hands in front of her, blocking her view from her injury. “Blood. That’s blood. Ugh. Okay, fine, an ambulance is okay.”

Rose laughed fondly of the distressed woman, “Right. Don’t be dumb. I have a tiny, tiny, first aid kit with me at all times.”

When Daphne opened her eyes again she saw the small bag that was now on Rose’s lap. Giving up, she got comfortable on the ground and stared as her… friend looked through the bag.

“You always carry that here? Why?”

“Because I’m always scared here!”

That made them laugh, and it relaxed Daphne enough to let Rose fumble around the scratch on her knee. Thankfully, it wasn’t a big deal. Once the blood was cleared away, the band-aid put in place, and the pants appropriately grieved for; Daphne knew that it might leave a bruise, but she’ll certainly survive.

“How do you feel?”

“It’s fine. I could kick you right now if I wanted to.”

“Right.”

“Why do you look so happy?!”

It was true. Daphne had just suggested to kicking her and Rose couldn’t look any more content.

“Because you’re talking to me.”

The tenderness in Rose’s eyes and the sincerity of her tone left Daphne definitely breathless. She had to make a great effort to utter her next words, “You know I don’t trust you anymore,” she whispered.

“Right. Well, I have gone in and out of bankruptcy a few times, Daphne. I am a woman with patience.”

“What _even_ does one thing have to do with the other?”

“I have no idea!”

While Rose lightly laughed to herself, Daphne had to move one hand to cover her mouth, hide the smile that was threatening to show up. Who knew that joy and pain could mix and present themselves as one in someone’s heart? Silently, she stood up and walked away Rose.

 

 

So far, Debbie’s team had looked through the insides of the house and the spaces around it. They had started to clean and own the place. However, none of them had tried to fool themselves into thinking they dared venture into the basement yet. Haunted or not. Terrified out of their minds or not. The closest they’ve gotten was that second day when Amita, Nine Ball and Constance met at the top of the stairs and stayed silent for a minute or so.

“You heard it? Nine Ball, you hear it? Can you hear it?” Constance's asked, poking her friend’s shoulder.

“Shut up! Yeah, I can hear some scratching or shit. This place has to be full with rats.”

“No uh, I don’t think that’s rats,” Amita commented fearfully.

“Shut up you too.”

Amidst more joking and teasing between the three of them, they managed to help Nine Ball set up a flashlight and a camera pointing at the stairs down the basement. It wasn’t a particularly precise experiment. Nina Ball wasn’t sure she’d be able to prove anything with it. But she didn’t have any new ideas and when Constance made a comment about the basement, well, there they were. At the very least, she’ll be able to record rats moving in that space and convince everyone it was safe to go down to the basement of the house. She left her camera proudly set up there and walked away with a certain feeling in her chest.

 

 

That night, the group went to bed more exhausted than they ever thought they’d have to be after becoming millionaires. But the job they had chosen came with risks, and they had been hit by each one of them. Now, it looked like they had lost nearly everything except for each other. Though in some cases they had. However, they wouldn’t be able to deny that even if most of the day they were thinking _We shouldn’t have gone this far, we should have stopped_ , right before they fell asleep they only thought in their minds was _I wonder when we’ll get to do it again_. Maybe it was the magnetic company of Debbie Ocean. Maybe they were really made for a life of crime. Everybody is forced to disappear and live in a famous haunted house at some point in their lives, right?

Amita wasn’t the exception. She couldn’t exactly remember a time in her life when she lived in full accordance with the law. Family business. Just like the Oceans. Her long-time friendship with Debbie was a testament to her contentment in that kind of life, also to her talent and expertise. When she went to bed that night, again in sleeping bags on the living room of Hill House, she was as exhausted as her friends, thinking she’d pass out immediately and would have trouble getting up in the morning.

What she didn’t expect was to wake up easily, calmly, with a soothing sigh… and standing up in the middle of a hallway on the upper floor of Hill House.

_Sleepwalking_. Okay, fine. She could wrap her mind around that. That had never happened before. But Tammy apparently had never talked in her sleep before. It was just the effects of the strange environment.

What she couldn’t understand, though, was the space surrounding her. She was sure she was still in Hill House, it was the second floor, the hallway with bedrooms on each side. But how on Earth was it possible that it looked perfectly clean? Not a single sign of dirt, dust, decades of abandonment. Leaves weren’t piling up on the ground, tree branches hadn’t broken through the windows, doors hasn't fallen off their hinges. In fact, it looked recently renewed.

Amita’s musings came to a halt by a sudden disruption in the silence of the night. The screams of a little girl. Acting on instinct and nothing else, Amita ran towards the sound, crashing through a door and walking into a room that looked resurrected from the cruelty of times. Warm, cozy, full of energy. Twin beds, toys scattered around, twins kids sitting up in their beds. Now that was just impossible.

Hoping with all her might, despite what her body was screaming, Amita decided it must be a dream. “Why are you awake?” she asked the kids without giving it a single thought.

“Because Nellie’s awake,” answer the little boy with blonde hair.

_It’s just a dream, it’s just a dream, it’s obviously just a dream_ , Amita repeated in her mind as she walked toward the distressed little girl on the other bed. The girl was trembling and crystal tears were brimming on her eyes. Amita approached her slowly.

“It’s the Bent-Neck Lady,” the little girl said.

Her words were immediately followed by a sound that in any other situation would have been random and meaningless, but for some reason Amita found it to be the most awful thing she had ever, ever heard. It was the sound of a rope tightening. It was deadly. She slowly turned around.

Then she screamed. She screamed and screamed and didn’t stop until seven other woman barged into the room, confused out of their minds as to why their friend was standing completely alone and screaming in the middle of a devastated room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm here!! It's been ages since I updated and I'm so sorry about that. But hopefully you guys are still interested. I really enjoy writing this and I have so many ideas so I probably won't stop writing any time soon. It'd be awesome to read your comments though, so tell me what you thought of this chapter! Thanks for reading!


	5. Sleeping Arrangements

It came as second nature for Debbie to take control of the situation and lead everyone back where she needed them. Lou and Daphne, Tammy and Nine Ball, check the house. Constance keep Rose company, she’s a little shaken up, make tea for all of us. Basically, everyone stay busy so I can talk to Amita alone. And so she did. While everyone was busy with the new duties, Debbie walked Amita over to the big windows that overlooked the grounds behind Hill House and gave her a reassuring hug that lasted for as long as the shorter woman needed to feel back in reality.

“It was crazy Debbie. I think I’m going crazy,” she whispered with a trembling voice as she stepped back and gazed at her much more serene and skeptical friend.

“You’re not going crazy,” Debbie assured her, “it makes sense.”

“ _What?!_ You think seeing ghosts and time traveling makes sense? Right now I’m not even sure sleepwalking makes sense!”

Debbie laughed gently and moved her hands to rub Amita’s arms as a sign of comfort.

“It makes sense,” she repeated. “Look, can I confess something to you?”

“Of course.”

“I’m seeing things too.”

“Really? What?” Amita whispered curiously.

That was unexpected, she thought. Nonetheless, Debbie shrugged nonchalantly. She was smiling, that small and just cocky enough smile of hers. She didn’t look worried or spooked at all.

“I don’t know how to explain it… sparks of color, fireworks behind my eyelids. Sometimes it’s just darkness, but more intensely… Then my head starts hurting and I think I see missing things around the house, shadows of things that once were… It’s completely natural you know? It’s stress.”

“ _Stress_ ,” Amita repeated slowly.

“Yes. Stress, anxiety, fear. It’s understandable Amita. This place is not only new but pretty fucking strange if I say so myself. It makes sense for our brains to go a little crazy, make us a little nervous, play tricks on us.”

“ _Tricks_ ,” Amita echoed once more, trying to catch Debbie’s words before it was too late.

“That’s right. You get it,” Debbie clapped, settling the discussion. “Now, I’m going to ask you something, a favor. We are all struggling here. I can see all the girls are a little nervous, you know? I don’t need them to worry any more, alright? So what we are going to do is tell them you walk in your sleep often since you were a kid, today you just had a really, really bad nightmare. Other than that, we keep this between you and me. Ghosts, visions, fears, you know what to do…”

When she finished talking, Debbie moved a finger to her lips, telling Amita everything she needed to know. Silence. A secret. Not speaking about it to anyone.

“Ah, I see,” Amita nodded. “Debbie Ocean’s style.” Both women shared a laugh, but before they parted ways Amita had one more question. “What about you? How are you doing with…”

Her words drifted off and she tilted her head in the general direction of where Lou and Tammy should be walking around the house. Debbie wasn’t in the mood for it. She was never in the mood for being questioned about her private life. She rolled her eyes and was about to walk away when her friend left her with one very important sentence.

“I’m just saying, Debbie. Women could be much scarier than a haunted house.”

 

 

The next morning started better than expected. Despite the little midnight incident with Amita’s sudden scare, everyone woke up refreshed and ready to work. The eight women were finally feeling a little more comfortable moving around the first floor of the house, actually making good use of the kitchen and taking their time in the bathroom. In exchange for the good mood, Debbie sente them all upstairs. Time to start cleaning the last corners of the house. Time to get themselves decent bedrooms.

While the group was busy in that task, Lou took a quick trip to the trustworthy bathroom downstairs. On her way back, something strange happened. She heard an unexpected noise. Before she considered ignoring the noise, it came back. It was a knocking. Getting stronger each second, quickly turning desperate. All the girls were supposed to be upstairs, no one knew they were there, besides, the knocking wasn’t coming from the front door, it was coming from the basement.

Lou rolled her eyes at the cliche and moved towards the door, pulling out her gun for good measure. She looked up and down the hallway and confirmed she was alone. The knocking coming from the basement became desperate and Lou couldn’t hold back the shudder that moved through her body. If you don’t think about it, if you don’t consider the possibilities, it won’t be scary. It could be a robber, it’s fine, she’s armed. It could be rats, obviously rats could knock on door with the force to almost throw it down.

In one quick move, Lou opened the door and pointed her gun inside. The surprise was almost enough to send Nine Ball falling down the stairs.

“What the fuck?!” the hacker shouted.

“What the fuck?!” Lou echoed the sentiment. “What’s going on? What are you doing?”

Lou grabbed Nine Ball’s arms and pulled her into the hallway, but when she attempted closing the door, the other woman harshly stopped her.

“Some shit is going on down there,” she stated. She tilted her head, signaling Lou, who looked at her skeptically, to follow. “Maybe keep up the gun.”

As they descended the stairs and looked around the small basement, Nine Ball explained the series of event that brought them there.

Last night Nine Ball had left a camera set up looking down the basement stairs, hoping to capture… something. Anything, really. A movement, a sound. Something to prove ghosts aren’t real, they had nothing to worry about, and make the others pay the money they owed her for the bet. She was confident, she had scoffed at her friends fear, she was certain she was right. All were terrible mistakes. When morning arrived, she hurried through her routine and immediately after checked the camera. The results made her frown, but she wasn’t worried, not yet. The video didn’t capture any sound at all. She couldn’t hear the scratching from the previous night. Fine, maybe the rats were sleeping. But she couldn’t hear herself walking away after pressing play on the video. She couldn’t hear the barking dogs that rounded the house every night. She couldn’t hear the noise they made in the morning.

Unsettled, Nine Ball played the video again. She was pleased to hear all the little sounds she had missed, except for the scratching, there wasn’t even a hint of that. Fine again, maybe the rats moved on. Right before the video ended, though, she was sure she heard the sound of a light tapping. Before she could identify it the video was over and she had to play it again. This time it was very distinct, there was no scratching, there was only the _tap, pause, tap_. It sounded like… She moved the camera away from her ear, and instead of playing attention to the sounds, she checked the video at a normal speed. Moving along with the tapping, she clearly saw a cane moving up the stairs, the kind of cane of a wealthy old man. _Tap_ , the cane moved up a step. _Tap_ , moved up again. _Tap_ \- Nine Ball ended the video.

She absolutely caught sight of a shadow following the cane. As if the sight of the cane wasn’t troubling enough. But did she really see it? Wasn’t that just her imagination? Of course it was. Nothing would happen if she went down to the basement herself. She took a steadying breath and without any hesitation at all yanked open the door and started down the stairs. She was moving confidently. The worst she could find there could be a feral animal but she’d deal with that if… _Eyes_. Eyes. That was all her brain could revolve around. She reached the last step of the stairs and when she looked around her eyes were immediately caught by another pair. Wide and delirious looking, the pair of eyes glowed in the dark, stared at her and seemed to be getting closer and closer in the deep darkness of the room. She turned around and ran up the stairs as quick as possible. She made it right on time for the door to be thrown at her, snapping closed and locked.

“And then I started knocking on the door, you came in and here we are.”

Nine Ball finished her story and Lou raised an eyebrow at her. She was downplaying it. Exaggeratedly downplaying it. Both could play that game. Afterall, it was obvious they were both tense, looking around nervous, and incapable of admitting real fear to one another.

“Right. Well, it looks fine now. It’s empty. Just full of gross dirt.”

“It’s a dirt deposit down here. But I suppose we can clean it at some point.”

“Yeah, it could work…”

Lou was cut mid-sentence. Despite the deplorable state of the room, she had let her guard down and her style demanded her to lean against some wall. So, she did. Then she felt shivers invade her body. She moved her hand to the wall to push herself off of it. But when her bare skin made contact with the bricks, it was like her heart stopped. Like she wasn’t herself anymore. She was a skeleton, she was a dead man, and she was sitting just behind the wall.

“ _Fuck_ …” she whispered.

“What?”

“Oh nothing, I’m just so sure somebody died in that room,” Lou growled as she jogged up the stairs, dusting off her palms on her pants as she went. “Let’s get out of here.”

“Wait! Lou,” her friend called out to her and when she caught up she asked her, “did nobody notice I was missing? I mean… I was locked there for a while.”

Lou smiled, amused by the fact that she knew they were both going to ignore that entire conversation and pretend nothing had happened that morning.

“I’m sure, and I wouldn’t be the only one, that we saw you up there, chopping wood and sweeping leaves away like the rest of us.”

 

When night finally arrived, the group was surprised to agree that maybe they were ready to move into the bedrooms. However, as amazing as that sounded after spending the past nights sleeping on the floor. Truth is, sharing bedrooms was a whole new different problem. They had avoided talking about it the whole day, but when all was said and done, the eight women were paralyzed on the hallway, waiting for anyone to speak up. And by anyone, obviously they were talking about Debbie. She sighed defeatedly and took a step forward.

“Alright, we’re fucking adults! We can do this.”

“So… you’re not going to intervene?”

The question came from Daphne, who simultaneously sneaked a hand around Tammy’s waist, eliciting the tiniest of gasps from her. Nine Ball was standing on Tammy’s other side. Debbie clenched her jaw… tried to take a calming breath… Nine Ball placed her hand on Tammy’s shoulder.

“Tammy and Rose. Constance and Nine Ball. Daphne and Amita. Lou and Me. Let’s go.”

The names flew out of Debbie’s mouth in almost a single scoff, her temper warming up the room considerably. Although the subjects of her frustration barely hid their grins, everyone followed Debbie’s orders without complaining. Specially Lou, who was more than pleased to follow Debbie straight into the master bedroom.

The conversations that unfolded that night seemed inconsequential at first. Most of them at least. But they were important beginnings to so many things. In the first room, Constance was deep in the middle of a monologue, while Nine Ball had her mind preoccupied in the events of the early morning.

“Three! Can you believe it?” Constance laughed, “That marks the third time I’ve seen that little girl in this house! It’s so weird, though, you know? Because I could swear I first saw a little blonde girl with a blue dress. I told you, right? But the next time I saw her, nope. That was a different girl. Smaller, brown hair. What are the odds of two little girls lots in this forest, huh? Nine Ball? _Nine… Ball…_ are you listening to me?”

“No. I am not.” her new roomate replied. “I am asleep. Shut up.”

“No you’re not! Tell me what you think!”

“I think you’re hallucinating! Drop the subject!”

Constance huffed and stood up for her argument, “You know what? Your bet? Proving ghost aren’t real? Well, I’m going to prove you this girl is real!” Nine Ball only laughed in response. “I’ll bring her dead or alive.”

Her overly dramatic impersonation of a dark and mysterious voice only earned her a pillow thrown at her head. The bet was made though. A real girl lost in the woods, or a real ghost. Constance had a new mission.

In the room next door, Amita was having a hard time holding back her laughter every time Daphne exclaimed “ _Ohh! Pretty!_ ” with every new fake, or not, piece of jewelry she showed her. Each woman packed her life away before coming together to that dark and mysterious place. And some essentials for each of them couldn’t be missed.

“Hey, would you like to talk?” Amita inquired timidly, cursing her inability to stay out of her friends’ romantic lives.

“Uh, we are talking,” Daphne giggled. “It the language of the diamonds, Amita, keep up.”

“No. I mean talk about her, about Rose and whatever happened between you two.”

Daphne sighed, in the way that warned anybody they were in trouble. “First of all, if by ‘ _whatever happened_ ’ you mean how I trusted her more than anybody, completely opened up to her just to find out she was lying to my face, using me to steal a necklace with her friends, then no, I don’t want to talk about that, or about _her_.” The way she said “her” was more than enough to guess what her feelings towards the fashion designer were, and Amita didn’t like that one bit.

“Hey, she’s my friend, you know?”

And she was. Amita meant it. They were all friends, the eight of them. But it was impossible not to form certain special bonds. During the Met Gala heist, Rose and Amita spent a good amount of time together, being the experts on clothes and jewelry they had a lot in common and their friendship quickly blossomed.

“Yeah, well,” Daphne smiled whimsically, “she was my friend too. But I said no more talking about her, okay?”

Her voice had lost its sharp edge, it was now soft and sincere. Amita didn’t dare push her limits again, and so she showed a few more rings to her friend until they were both ready to sleep.

Across the hallway, the infamous fashion designer was awkwardly sitting on her bed, avoiding looking at the other woman in the room. Rose and Tammy both knew that if things had played out as Daphne wanted them to, she would have chosen one of them to share the room with, and it wouldn’t have been Rose. 

“Well, this is rather awkward,” Rose sighed, finally.

Tammy laughed and for a second wondered if she should attempt to talk about Daphne, anything at all, just say she wasn’t interested in the least. But she could see it would probably make everything worse. In her heart, Tammy found the thing that mattered most to her in the entire world and guessed that it would make for a perfect conversation subject to break the ice surrounding them.

“Hey, Rose, have I recently talked to you about my kids?”

“Oh! The babies!”

The older woman’s excitement was endearing. She jumped from her bed and rushed to Tammy’s side to look over a few pictures of the kids she had on her phone. They laughed, chatted and by the time they were done, Rose was even closer to tears than Tammy was.

“They are so beautiful Tammy! Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll be reunited in no time!” Rose reassured her with a smile as she went back to her own bed. “By the way, they kind of look like the kids that live - lived in this house, don’t you think?”

Well, so much for harmless conversation and a peaceful sleep, Tammy thought.

Just like that there was one room left in the house with a couple of women dancing around the uncertain grounds in which their relationship stood. It had been about ten years since Debbie and Lou had a chance at being a real couple. But, of course, then Claude Becker happened, jail happened, and afterwards they just have been so busy that they haven’t got a chance at actually talking about where they stood. And there was a lot of talking to do, that was for sure. But weren’t they just so good at avoiding doing just that?

That night, although awkward at first, Debbie and Lou found a way to get on with their nightly routine as if nothing wrong had happened between them and their lives. They moved seamlessly around each other, exchanging tender touches and playful smiles as they passed one another. Debbie commented a few of her plans for the upcoming days. Only a few of them. Lou was… a lot of things for her. Best friend and right-hand woman, among other things. So she trusted her with anything, that much was true. But nevertheless, Debbie loved to keep some parts of her every plan to herself. On the other hand, Lou shared a summary of her trip to the basement with Nine Ball early that day. Debbie listened with laid back attitude. but when the story was over and they were ready for bed, the couple locked eyes and Lou could easily read the attention Debbie had been paying to the tale, how intently she had read between the lines and, of course, the deep concern lighting up her eyes.

“Have you thought about contacting… you know…” Debbie made vague hand gestures.

“ _Theo?_ ” Lou exclaimed, apparently surprised. “No way. No, that’s…” she trailed off, not knowing exactly how to define the idea of calling Theo. So she turned to a playful approach, “You wouldn’t be jealous?”

Lou was deflecting, that much was obvious. But she looked great doing so. And her accent was just on point. Her eyes so perfectly blue. Maybe Debbie could let it pass. It was only their third night there. They had no hurry. It wasn’t like she found the idea particularly exciting, either.

“Jealous? Me?” she replied playfully as she walked towards Lou. “We are not that kind of couple.”

“You think?” Lou laughed.

She allowed Debbie to get into her personal space, look up at her, brush their lips together and immediately step back. Such a tease.

“What about…”

“Shut up.”

Lou didn’t get to mention the few names that were a testimony to their actual jealous nature. But she didn’t mind one bit. She was too distracted by the sight of Debbie getting into bed, their eyes not leaving one another.

“Come here and kiss me, okay?”

Who was she to say no to an order from Debbie Ocean?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! I hope everyone enjoyed the chapter. I hope you're enjoying the spooky side of the story. I'm sure more romance and drama is on its way.  
> Please leave your comments, I'd love to know what you guys think and if it's actually worth it to keep posting this lol


	6. (Don't) Listen To Her

Day four. _Unbelievable_. If she was being honest with herself, a small part of Lou didn’t think they’d made it this far in Hill House. When they arrived, to say the house was in shambles was an understatement. But, to say Debbie was determined and capable to turn anything around in her favor, was also an understatement. Debbie kept her team focused, the morale high, and Daphne’s disgust with the dirt around her at bay. It was impressive. And Lou was goddamned tired of it. Everything was getting in her nerves that day. Debbie’s perfect facade that broke only when they were alone. Tammy’s mocking eyes and Constance calling her “mom”. Rose and Daphne arguing, Nine Ball and Amita discussing ghosts. Every rustle of leaves, every stick she stepped on in the ground. The awful cold that seemed to fill the entire house and no one else seemed to notice.

In conclusion, she needed time to herself, and she needed it desperately. She didn’t warn anybody, nor did she ask Debbie for permission to skip her duties. Why would she? That just wasn’t in her system. First, she had planned to wander around the house, but it was full of the other women. Although there were few of them, they felt like a lot. Second, she considered going outside but, truthfully, she was just so tired of Mother Nature taking over everything. God, did she miss New York. So, she ended up sneaking around the hallways until she found the perfect little room to claim for herself.

It was nearly perfect. It was dirty, full of dust, a little destroyed by time and it would need a lot of work, basically exactly like the rest of the house, but it could be hers. The square room was a nice little garage, a little tight for a small car but it didn’t matter, because the only vehicle there was her beloved motorcycle. Lou felt already a little bit more at ease by just the sight of it. It was like another part of her, like seeing herself in two wheels. In the wall across from the door was a single rectangular window that looked to the grounds surrounding Hill House. It was the perfect place where to hide for a little while.

Lou looked behind her, made sure she was alone and walked in. As she closed the door behind her, she leaned against her, letting out a sigh. But her hand hadn’t left the doorknob and in an instant her hold tightened, her breathing quickened and she was absorbed in memories. Yes, she could see Theo dancing. Theo. Theo. They had danced together, they had so much fun together. But then, she wasn’t seeing Theo dancing with her. She was seeing Theo… as a little girl. Theo passionately dancing in a room of this very house… _Was little Theo on the other side of the door? Was someone knocking? Was something trying to turn the doorknob?_

With a shudder, Lou broke away from that door. Then she convinced herself there was no real need to check what was on the other side. nobody could be trying to force their way into that room, could they? Absolutely not. She had more important things to do, she reminded herself. So without any further distraction she moved towards her bike, ready to examine it and see what work needed to be done. Except that her hold on reality was again interrupted as soon as she set her hands on the bike.

Of course that damn thing was a gift from Debbie. Was there something in her life not related to the gorgeous and deceiving brunette? But it wasn’t common that with just closing her eyes she could perfectly feel the adrenaline and the wind in her hair as she flew on the highway on top of her bike, plus the tight hold of Debbie’s arms around her, both of them feeling safe and secure as long as they were together, and then… _nothing._ As if the bike had fallen from an imaginary cliff, Lou could no longer feel anything about how she, or Debbie for that matter, felt.

The tricks her mind was playing on her were too cruel that day. Frustrated, Lou scoffed and started pacing around the room and complaining out loud.

“I’m losing my mind, losing my mind… you’re being irrational and stupid! Just stop… stop thinking about women goddamnit. It’s this house and… _Debbie’s not here_ …” Suddenly she stopped. That last sentence… did it come out of her lips? Was it part of a memory? First, Lou registered that as a reflex in her anxious state, her right hand had moved to tightly clutch one of her necklaces, the one Tammy gave her not too long ago… “… _But you are._ ” Lou said, or heard, she wasn’t sure. The only thing clear was the image of Tammy’s face. The soft blonde waves of hair, the pink lips with that smile that stood on the fine line between kind and playful, and those impossibly sweet brown eyes, getting closer and closer…

Lou shook her head. More than slightly frustrated with herself for allowing all those memories to even cross her mind. She cursed the cold of the house, picked up her favorite pair of leather gloves and after putting them on she started working on her bike without any other distractions.

 

 

Their stay at Hill House was starting to look up, Debbie thought. The house was actually starting to look habitable and they were functioning like normal humans inside those walls. There was still a lot of cleaning up to do and they were starting to make lists of little things they should repair soon.

After leaving Nine Ball and Amita a little too entertained by throwing bags full of trash from the windows of the upper floor, Debbie walked away with a content smile and decided to check on the rest of her team downstairs. However, she didn’t even get finish the stairs, because her attention was captured by Constance tense silhouette standing still near the bottom of the stairs.

Debbie got closer as quietly as possible and managed to catch the look of pain on the younger woman’s face before it vanished as soon as Constance noticed her company.

“Constance, are you okay?” Debbie asked her.

“Yeah! Sure, mom, just, you know, appreciating the old Hill House.”

“Alright,” Debbie studied her from her to toe and obviously taking notice how Constance wasn’t putting any pressure on her right foot. “Well, maybe you should finish walking down these stairs. Just a few steps left.”

“Yeah, no, I kind of love the stairs. My favorite stairs ever. I’m emotionally attached. You know how I am with stairs.”

“Constance, you are hurt.” Debbie interrupted her quite seriously and accentuating each word. “I’m not going to let us ignore it anymore. I’m looking for Tammy and her first aid kid and we’re dealing with this right now, okay?”

Constance tried to complain, to call out after Debbie’s retreating form, but a second later the determined leader was out of sight.

“We have a problem,” Debbie said as greeting as soon as she found Tammy throwing away a few trashbags herself.

“What is it?”

“You wouldn’t guess who I found paralyzed by pain at the bottom of the stairs because of her feet?”

“Constance,” Tammy stated and nodded along. “That kid is almost as stubborn as you were at that age. Are we finally going to take a look at her injury?”

Debbie, however, took a second longer than necessary to answer. It always threw her off when Tammy spoke so casually of their long, long past. Childhood friends, teenage partners in crime, young adulthood lovers, and then…

“Yes, I think I can bring her here. We can lay her down on this couch and you can do your thing.”

“Great! Give me a moment to wash my hands and go for the equipment.”

Maybe it wasn’t necessary that Debbie followed Tammy around as she did those things, but she did so anyway.

“Thank you, by the way. You’re the only one capable to pull off this nurse stuff.” It was true, both of them could fondly look back on dozens of times that Tammy had taken care of Debbie when she was hurt or sick. But that was a long time ago.

Tammy shurged humbly, “It’s one of my things.”

“And you are very good at it.”

Tammy’s smile, that a minute ago was sweet and warming Debbie’s heart, suddenly faltered. Debbie was following her around like a hunter to its prey. That last comment and the smirk she was wearing on her face… was she flirting? Debbie was sure that flirting with Tammy was near the top of the list of things she shouldn’t do. Among other things she really _shouldn’t_ do with or to Tammy.

Before anything else could happen between the two of them, they just so happened to walk into the main area of the house, first aid kit in hand, and watched as Lou effortlessly carried Constance on her back and away from the daunting set of stairs.

“Oh hey Debbie” Lou greeted her with one of her charming smiles, “I don’t want to freak you out but there might be a demon beside you.”

Lou’s dramatic delivery and extravagant act of fake whispering evoked a chuckle from Debbie, a loud laugh from Constance and a frown from Tammy.

“I know you’re scared of me, Lou, but don’t embarrass yourself.” Tammy replied, easily matching Lou’s attacks. “Constance, tell your mule to bring you to the couch.”

Just like that, all of them moved into a room that probably was Hill House’s living room. It was mostly destroyed, eaten by dust and time, but the essence was there, plus, the couch had been cleaned enough and it fit Constance just right.

“Well it still doesn’t look broken to me,” Tammy declared after a few minutes of delicately touching Constance heel, twisting and turning it as far as it could go and studying the pain it caused. “I think that some ointment, a tight band, some painkillers and a good day or so of rest should do.”

She got to work, using all her knowledge with first aid, trying not to think of her own kids at home with their aunt, and trying even harder to ignore or keep up with Lou’s jabs at her. For Debbie, their bickering was as entertaining as it was stressful. But she let them get carried away. She was already in the middle of it all, no need to call more attention to herself.

“All done!” Tammy eventually got up and started pulling away all her equipment. “Give it a few days and you’ll have my permission to kick Lou in the face.”

Constance looked mortified at the suggestion. It was important to notice that the younger woman deeply admired the three of them, their long and successful careers in the illicit business that she adored. In exchange, the three women had taken genuine affection for Constance, that was the only reason they all managed to stay in the same room in relative peace for so long.

“Since the witch is done here, you guys can leave, I’ll keep an eye on Constance,” Lou announced.

“No way,” Tammy shook her head. “We need someone that doesn’t cause more damage than good. I’ll stay with Constance.”

“Oh but she’ll freak out when she sees you turn into a bat after midnight, we can’t afford that.”

“ _Stop it_ ,” Debbie rolled her eyes at them. “Look at her! She’s already asleep. She can rest on her own. I want both of you to leave and get back to work. I’ll check on her myself.”

As usual, there was no fighting Debbie’s decisions. Tammy started picking up all her things and Lou moved to the door where she’d wait for Debbie. But, before Tammy could disappear through a different door, she got close to Debbie, softly grabbed her hand and leaned in to whisper into her ear.

“It’s okay, Debbie, you can leave with her. Keep taking bad decisions, I won’t stay in the way.”

So, she had whispered that, Debbie took notice as she watched her leave. She hadn’t said that to annoy Lou, she meant it, and she wanted Debbie to know that.

There was nothing she could do at the moment, though, Debbie realized with a sigh, because she turned back to Lou and one look told her she wouldn’t be able to resist her. Lou was leaning against the frame of the door. Her smirk was impossible to miss, her blue eyes were shining like only they could, and everything about Lou was just screaming for Debbie to come closer.

Safely away from any possible eavesdropping, Debbie stared at Lou.

“You’re getting on her nerves,” she told her. But Lou only shrugged nonchalantly, if not proudly. “You’re getting on _my_ nerves.”

Now that got Lou to chuckle, putting Debbie at a disadvantage, because she could melt under the sight of Lou’s smile.

“I don’t plan on stopping any time soon.”

Rendered helpless to Lou’s sultry voice, Debbie met her halfway for a kiss. Its breviety didn’t take away its passion, the softness of their lips meeting was an amazing contrast to the powerful shock that filled the rest of their bodies.

When they pulled back, they stared at each other for enough time to leave it clear between them that they weren’t over.

“She’s not that bad, you know?”

Debbie’s comment regarding Tammy came from a genuine place of affection towards the woman that was her longest friend. She was expecting Lou to roll her eyes, scoff, make a snide remark, any kind of joke. But she was completely thrown off a second later when Lou replied with sincere eyes and an entirely serious voice.

“ _I know_ ,” she said. It had sounded a little too much like a confession. But then she remembered herself, who they all were, where they were, and all the things Debbie wasn’t supposed to know.

Lou simply turned her back on Debbie and started walking away, not without looking back once and throwing “See you tonight” over her shoulder.

Right after, Debbie had to make a genuine effort to hold back the shivers that such a promise brought to her. She was about to curse Lou and her seducing skills, or Tammy and - actually, Debbie decided to curse herself and her spot-on ability to get involved with two of the most mighty women she had ever met.

 

 

In her mind, Daphne was performing a very detailed speech on how much she hated Hill House and everything about it. The long stairs, small rooms, old bathrooms, the smells and the sights of it. In reality, she was waking in some kind of haze towards her room, when she was abruptly interrupted. Rose, of all women in the world, came running out of a room and crashing directly into Daphne. Not having trouble remembering she was still upset with the fashion designer, Daphne limited herself to saving Rose and herself from falling, but she was ready to walk past,

“Oh God! It’s you!” Rose nearly shouted and stared at Daphne as if he was a miracle on Earth. Okay, maybe that used to happen pretty often, but it still made a knot form in the young actress’ throat. “You won’t believe… Oh my God… I can’t…”

Daphne could hear in her mind a loop of “Stay away from Rose, stay away from Rose, stay away…” but how could she? Rose’s hands were gripping at Daphne’s arms as if her life depended on it. Her eyes showed the utmost terror and they were quickly filling with tears. The woman was trembling from head to toe.

“Hey, Rose, hey, it’s okay. Calm down, please. You’re scaring me. What happened? Can you tell me what happened?”

Daphne tried to speak in her most soothing voice. Her heart was breaking with every second that Rose couldn’t bear to speak. The older woman was shaking her head, stuttering, not making any sense. Eventually, Daphne’s resolution to keep her distance broke down. Her angry frown eased into one of genuine concern. Not being able to help herself, she wrapped her arms around Rose and sighed. It felt so good, it was so wrong, inconvenient… 

“I saw something horrible, Daphne.”

That broken whisper from Rose cleared up Daphne’s mind about what exactly was her priority at the moment.

“Tell me what happened.”

“I walked into my room, the one I share with Tammy and… there was a woman in my bed. A really, really old lady. She looked… like the death. But her eyes were very open. And I was frozen there. Then… she raised her hand, pointed at me… Oh God, I thought that awful finger was going to fly through the air, come and stab me in my chest.”

If that wasn’t enough to leave Daphne’s breathless, her heart also broke into pieces by watching fear take over the woman that, despite everything, she still loved.

“Let’s take a look, alright? I’ll go with you. You’re safe with me, you know that, right?”

“Right.” Rose wiped her tears and followed Daphne into the room.

Truthfully, Daphne wasn’t that brave. She might believe a little bit in ghosts, but she wasn’t about to let a ghost make Rose cry. Once inside the room, though, Daphne felt braver each second. There was no sight of any old lady or anything strange or out of place. Rose, of course, was still pretty shaken up. And, considering she already broke about half of the rules she had put to herself concerning Rose, Daphne decided to stay a little bit and make sure her… friend was truly fine. She strolled around the room, commented silly things, joked about Tammy’s belongings and Rose’s messy side of the room.

When the older woman seemed to relax enough, Daphne walked to one thing of the room that captured her attention, “What’s this?” she asked about the dusty, golden tube the came out from the wall beside Rose’s bed.

“Uh, that old thing. It connects this room with, the kitchen, I think. You speak something into it and you hear it downstairs.”

Right in that moment, Nine Ball was finishing sweeping through the kitchen floor and cursing that house for getting dirty every damn day. Her actions were halted by a strange noise coming from behind her. She couldn’t identify it, so she continued with her task. However, when the sound, a sort of whisper, continued, she turned around and whispered back, “Shut up!” which was just how she dealt with everything.

Nothing would have prepared her for hearing a very distinct “ _Be quiet!_ ” whisper in response.

She didn’t recognize that voice… No, that voice didn’t belong to any of her friends. Of course, it could be just Constance playing around but… It sounded like a sick old woman. Nine Ball could see that the source was probably that strange metallic tube stuck in the wall.

“ _Don’t listen to her,_ ” the whispers continued, “ _she’s crazy_.”

“Oh, yeah I’ve gone crazy.” Nine Ball said quietly to herself. She had the impulse to tell the whispers to shut up again, that was her new approach to every supernatural thing in that house. But before she decided between acknowledging her fear and running away from that spot or ignoring the thing altogether, one final whisper arrived.

“ _She’s crazyyy!!_ ” It had started as a whisper, but it became a yell, in that very distinct voice of elders, trembling, rough, and in this case, terrifying.

Still upstairs, joking around in front of the silent tube on the wall, were Rose and Daphne, standing closer together. When they heard an unnecessary loud “Shut up!” It was Nine Ball shouting at them from the kitchen. Weird, considering they weren’t even talking into that thing.

But that didn’t stop Rose from being scared out of her mind and literally jumping into Daphne’s arms. 

When the fright of the second passed and it registered that it was just Nine Ball, they relaxed, but they stayed in each other’s arms. Rose was very calm, feeling better than ever in that place, because Daphne was with her. Daphne, however, couldn’t move her eyes away from the golden tube on the wall, because on its reflection she could very clearly see the old lady sitting on the bed beside them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> here she is!!!  
> i love writing this fic so much. as long as at least one of you guys keeps commenting i'll be here for a while. and I'll try to update as soon as i can  
> please let me know if there are things that don't make sense or things that need to be cleared up! I hope you're all getting the little references to Hill House. am I the only one witha sudden urge to rewatch the show?  
> thanks for reading!


	7. Painkillers

When their fifth night at Hill House arrives, Debbie is nothing if not exhausted. She wouldn’t say she underestimated all the work they’d have to do to comfortably settle down in such a destroyed place. In fact, part of her is thankful of their never-ending work around the house. It serves as a great distraction. Since the moment they arrived nobody had asked her difficult questions, nobody had talked about their downfall, nobody had questioned all her mistakes they should rightfully question.

Additionally, Debbie wouldn’t admit how tired she really was. It was a little too much for her, and she would deny it until the day she died. But she really was. She was used to crafting a big plan, giving everybody a task and seeing it all play out in beautiful harmony before her. But there was something about having to create a great plan everyday, trying to resurrect a house everyday, keeping everybody on track everyday, being the ringleader of that apocalyptic circus _everyday_.

It wasn’t just the forest of problems she was dealing with. She was perfectly capable of noticing each and every inconvenient tree in her path. Lou’s seduction. Tammy’s entire… Tammy. Daphne and Rose’s issues. Her most loyal soldier, Constance, with an injury. And Nine Ball and Amita getting distracted by ghosts, regardless regardless if they were real or not they were an unwelcome distraction. Besides, the goddamned awful headaches she was having recently. They were cruel migraines unlike anything she had ever experienced. Each one came stronger, and each time the overwhelming fireworks show that used to explode behind her eyelids turned into more and more darkness. She wasn’t sure what was more annoying. Maybe it was the part when the headaches started and she started seeing strangers around the house, just a shadow, a door closing, a silhouette in the back of the room, but they were there.

_Anyway_. No time to lose. No running away. Debbie had things to do and nothing would stop her, not even herself. Before going to bed that night, she made it a point to check in on her team. First up was Constance, who was still comfortably laying down on the couch in the living room, getting ready to sleep since the stairs would probably be too tough for her foot. Better to rest.

“Hey Constance, all good?” Debbie asked sitting down the arm of the couch.

“Yup. I’m comfy here. About to pass out.”

“Great. Is there anything you need? How’s your foot? The painkillers?”

“Oh shit, right. Well I’m okay and the foot is fine but like I have to take more pills in a couple of hours and I have no clock and my phone died and you know electricity here is still…”

Constance complemented her words with creative hand gestures. Her request had Debbie thoughtful for a second, but she confidently stood up and started taking off her wrist watch.

“Well, you can’t miss the time to take your medication. Take my watch for tonight,” she offered, holding the small object out.

But Constance didn’t take it right away. She knew its value. She had never seen Debbie without it. Except maybe for the time she took it from that very wrist the day they met, but that doesn’t count.

“You sure?”

“Yes. It’s okay. No big deal.”

“Can I keep it then?” Constance asked with a big goofy grin.

“Absolutely not. It’s a huge deal. It’s my brother’s watch. Are you mad?” Debbie deadpanned.

It made the younger one laugh and finally accept the watch in her hands. She studied it for a second, the engraving on the back. Danny. The history of that watch could take her breath away. While Constance was lost on her little world, Debbie, in turn, studied her. In some ways, Constance reminded her of herself at a younger age. Much less rigorous and with very different ambitions. But the talent and cleverness was there. The difference being that Constance kept her youthfulness and Debbie was stuck in a place in her life where she had to make a conscious effort in order to remind herself there used to be joy as part of her job.

“You know what? You could keep it, someday. I mean, if I never have kids, which at this point seems highly unlikely. I’ll leave it to you. You can have that watch when I die.”

Debbie winked. But her careless playfulness wasn’t as well received as she would have thought. “Don’t talk about dying,” Constance said softly. Debbie wasn’t aware that woman could speak softly. She sounded sincere and even slightly concerned. It touched her heart in unexpected ways.

“Ok,” Debbie replied seriously. “But give it back in the morning. I’m serious. As long as I’m alive that watch stays with me.” At last her joking was welcomed and she was able to leave that room on a good note.

Next up on her list was Nine Ball, who would be sleeping on her own since her roommate was injured. But she didn’t seem to have a problem with it, Debbie noted as soon as she walked into the room and caught sight of a handful of tech equipment on the empty bed and the hacker on the other one, typing away on her laptop.

“I see you’re terrified of sleeping on your own, aren’t you?” she said, walking in.

“Yeah. I’m trembling,” Nine Ball replied without looking up, also raised a finger to point at the other bed. “I did some tweaking to the cameras and if anything remotely supernatural happens in this room... “ she whistled.

Debbie didn’t completely understood what she meant with that. “So, just to confirm, everything good over here? You'll be okay?”

The hacker finally looked up at her with a bored look on her face. Then she quickly shifted into a wide and overly fake smile, held it for a second, and then went back to her laptop.

“Got it.” Debbie chuckled and left the room.

A few steps later, Debbie found herself walking into Daphne and Amita’s room. They were once again browsing through pieces of jewelry. Amita looked, to put it mildly, desperate to get out of there.

“Debbie!” Daphne greeted her, “isn’t this one gorgeous?”

She was holding up her hand and showing a particularly sparkly ring on her middle finger. Was that a secret message?

“It is!” Amita agreed with the most obvious fake enthusiasm anyone could muster. “Debbie can I talk to you for a second in the hallway? Thanks!”

Just like that, Debbie was dragged into the hallway. When the fake smile and the forced sparkle of Amita’s eyes disappeared, Debbie had to cover her mouth to stifle her laugh.

“You _have_ to do something about that.”

“Do I?”

“Yes! Don’t get me wrong, I love talking about faux jewelry and I adore Daphne. But she needs Rose! Only Rose can handle Daphne for so long!”

Although still amused, Debbie closed her eyes and scratched her head. One more thing on her to-do list. One very difficult thing. Whatever. She could totally pull it off. She could fix every problem her team had. Couldn’t she? Yes, she could fix it.

“I’ll see what I can do,” she promised Amita. 

She walked away still drinking in the fun of seeing Amita on the edge, losing her patience. Conveniently, her next stop was Rose’s room. Only problem was, that was also Tammy’s room.

“Hey there,” she greeted them from the door. “How’s everyone here?”

Upon entering it was easy for Debbie to figure out this was yet another couple tired of small talk. They were sitting each one on their bed and Tammy held up her phone, “I’ve ran out of pictures of my kids to show Rose.”

Debbie’s eyebrows lifted in surprise. She knew Tammy probably had millions of pictures of them on her phone. And then, she felt her heart ache a little. Because apparently running out of pictures was a like running out of a part of her kids that she had brought with herself. And Tammy looked a little too sad for Debbie’s liking. She couldn't stand it.

“Hey, it’s okay,” Debbie said as she walked in and sat down beside Tammy on her bed, “I actually still have a few pictures of them from my last visit. You haven’t seen them all.” The way Tammy’s sweet brown eyes lit up at the idea was a little too much for Debbie. Damn those expressive beautiful eyes. “Rose!” she suddenly blurted out, needing a distraction, “Rose, how are you? How you’ve been? All good?”

The woman in question was clearly amused and a little confused by Debbie’s outburst. Plus she looked a little out of place, like she didn’t know what to do with herself. Debbie wondered if that was the effect of Daphne’s absence in her life.

Still, Rose nodded happily, “I’ve been just good.”

“Good, good,” Debbie nodded, purposefully avoiding Tammy’s face, which by the way she could feel was too close to her. “Rose, I was actually wondering if we could, you know, talk about… relationships?”

God she wasn’t that good at this. Of course she should have made a plan first. Debbie Ocean acting without a plan? What was she doing?

“Oh!” Rose exclaimed, “So, you two…” she gestured vaguely to the two of them, sitting too close to each other on Tammy’s bed.

“No! No, no - that’s not - of course, not - we are not - we were - no, no - nothing - not at all” Debbie and Tammy rushed to talk over each other and put some space between them as they furiously shook their heads.

“Are you sure?” Rose asked them with a laugh. “I mean, it’s okay, I know how everything is and the situation with blondie over there,” she nodded towards the door in obvious reference to Lou, who was known as really protective of Debbie and maybe, just maybe a ferociously jealous person, “but you two are just so cute!” she gushed. “You look just perfect for each other! And the whole childhood friends thing gets me every time!”

Rose looked very pleased with the fairytale image she had made on her mind. But Debbie and Tammy wouldn’t have known how she looked. Because while Rose was still talking they had turned to face each other, ready to scoff or laugh or do anything to dispute Rose’s accusation. But instead they met each other’s eyes… and time just stopped.

Inappropriately long and intimate eye contact. Definitely another of the things Debbie wasn’t supposed to do with Tammy. Yet there she was, decades deep into a friendship that was the single most stable thing Debbie ever had in her life, plus a relationship that once shook them like an earthquake and left them positively broken afterwards. That might explain the unavoidable wall that Debbie found in Tammy’s eyes after a second more of that intimate moment. They both sighed for the loss of the people they were simply unable to be for each other.

“No, Rose, we are not… it was over a long time ago,” Debbie stood up, “Besides, I’m with Lou and Tammy has a husband so-”

Tammy scoffed, cutting her short, “That sperm donor? He means nothing to me.”

A long pause ensued. In the end, Debbie decided there was nothing else that could possibly be said in that moment. She wished her friends a good night and she walked out of that room.

That was the kind of exchange that in normal circumstances it would have left her overthinking it for days and days. But they were all neck-deep in extraordinary circumstances. They were all living together! Debbie had to make use of one of her special talents and throw that entire encounter in the back of her mind.

Besides, she had Lou, she reminded herself. In fact, she was done with her night shift and ready to go to her own room and focus a little more intensely in one particular member of her team.

Debbie walked into the master bedroom, closed and locked the door behind her and leaned her back on it. Then, she waited. She observed Lou standing by one of the windows of the room and surprisingly, she felt some of the tension of day dissolve, plus a different kind of tension invade her. It was the effect only Lou could have on her.

Eventually, Lou turned around to face Debbie. That was something she usually did. Take her time. Do everything whenever she decided. It drove Debbie crazy, the lack of structure of Lou’s entire existence. And that was perhaps the exact reason why the Australian woman did all of it.

“I know you’re tired.”

Okay, that wasn’t what Debbie expected to hear. Lou was still dressed in her clothes of the day. If she hadn’t undressed and get into sleepwear, that usually meant she was waiting for Debbie’s… help.

“You’re exhausted, babe, I can see it,” Lou continued speaking with a soft voice as she walked toward Debbie. “You’ve been killing yourself out there. I need you to rest a little, alright?”

“You know I can’t do that, Lou. The world will eat us alive if I let my guard down a second.”

“You can let your guard down with _me_. I got you. We’ll be fine.”

A knot formed in Debbie’s throat with those words. It wasn’t the first time in her life she heard Lou express that sentiment. The memories rushed to Debbie’s mind with the force of an angry horde. It was more than ten years ago, they were the perfect team, Lou had made it clear she would have died for Debbie, who in exchange tortured herself for her inability to relinquish any bit of power or control. Lou mattered too much to risk losing her. So Debbie ended up letting down her guard for the worst man she had been involved with, and she knew really bad ones. For that mistake she paid five years, eight months and twelve days. And then, she came back, overjoyed to have Lou with her again, but they haven’t had a chance to breathe or talk and…

Debbie’s train of thought was completely derailed by the most tender of kisses that Lou placed on her forehead. A sigh escaped them both.

“You’re right,” Debbie confessed, “I am tired, and we both should catch up on our sleep.”

It was obvious to Lou that Debbie was still guarded, but she counted that confession as a small victory. “You know what? You go ahead,” Lou said, “I’ll go double check the house and then I’ll join you.”

If Debbie wanted to complain, she didn’t have a chance. Lou kissed her and it was one of those perfect kisses the blonde had mastered, the ones that were quick but passionate enough to leave Debbie breathless for a second or two. Enough time for Lou to rush out of the room without any other word. Maybe they were both too good at pushing their emotions to the back of their minds. Or maybe…

No matter how hard she tried to avoid it, Debbie was genuinely exhausted. She fell asleep almost as soon as her head touched the pillow. Lou was in her dreams, Debbie was chasing after her. Even unconsciously, Debbie was frowning, annoyed at her dream self for taking better decisions than her conscious self did when she let Lou go without a fight.

In any way, Debbie didn’t get that much sleep. A terrified scream broke through the silence of Hill House and woke up every single woman that had been sleeping. Debbie jumped out of her bed and started running, the screaming continued. She yanked open the door of her room and rushed out with every intention of flying wherever the screaming was coming from.

Then the strangest thing happened. She turned into the hallway that had all the bedrooms lined up on each side. Every single door was open. The hallway wasn’t the destroyed-by-time mess that Debbie knew. It was renewed, in perfect conditions, eerily illuminated by the moonlight. Standing in the doorway of each room was a person, all were complete strangers to Debbie, all looking more than a little out of place, out of time, out of life. An impossibly tall man wearing a hat, a little boy in a wheelchair, an old lady pointing a finger at Debbie, an elegant lady striking a pose…

Debbie let out a whimper, her hands flew to cover her face and she started walking backwards until her back hit the wall. She felt she couldn’t breathe.

“Debbie? Debbie!” a voice was calling out to her, “Oh my God, Debbie are you okay?” soft hands were reaching out to her, stroking her arms soothingly, “Debbie, you’re scaring me. It’s okay. Look at me, Debbie. Debbie!”

The simple act of opening her eyes pained her more than she could have put into words. But when she finally did, to her relief, she met the warm and concerned eyes of a friend.

“Amita? What’s going on?”

“Constance was screaming. We have to go see her.”

Debbie took a second to appreciate Amita’s calming voice and presence. She looked around to confirm she was back in her reality, a time and place she was familiar with. Then she took off running, Amita right behind her.

When they arrived at the living room of the house, Constance had stopped screaming in horror. But she was still shouting and trying to get up, fighting Nine Ball, Rose and Daphne’s best efforts at calming her down.

“Calm down! - let me go - your feet! - I need to see her! - Constance!” the voices all mixing in the struggle.

“What’s going on?!” Debbie raised her voice over the rest and walked towards Constance. She took note of the look of massive relief that crossed Constance features as soon as her eyes found Debbie. “Constance are you okay? Are you alright? What happened?” Debbie kneeled in front of Constance, touching her face, her hair, frantically making sure the younger woman wasn’t hurt.

“I’m fine, it was just a nightmare.”

The calm and cold delivery of Constance answer left all the other women speechless because of the sharp contrast with the fumbling and screaming mess she had been a few seconds ago.

“Are you sure, darling?” Rose asked her cautiously, “you were quite shaken up.”

“I’m fine, it was just a nightmare,” Constance repeated. “I checked the time, tried to pick up my medicine… _It was a nightmare/ _.”__

__She was making a little too much emphasis on that. She didn’t look like herself. And her eyes weren’t leaving Debbie, studying her purposefully._ _

__“But you did pick up your medicine. Look it’s here. You were awake.” Nine Ball commented as she picked up the small bottle of painkillers from the couch._ _

__“It was just a dream! Can we just drop it?”_ _

__Debbie didn’t have any intention of dropping the subject at that moment. But they had an interruption, Turns out that in the confusion and with her mind clouded by concern, Debbie didn't notice her team was incomplete. She was only alerted to that fact by the front door of the house opening suddenly. The six women that were in the living room all turned around expectantly and stared wide eyed at Lou and Tammy rushing in, looking more than a little like deer caught in the headlights. Debbie looked over their surprised, guilt-ridden faces. She took notice of Lou’s tousled hair. Just the wind? Tammy’s hands? It infuriated her the fact that she didn’t know the answer and she would never find out because she already knew she was too proud to ever ask._ _

__Silence enveloped them all once again and Debbie did one more quick sweep of her feelings, throwing them under the proverbial rug. She focused on her role of leader and only allowed herself to feel disappointed by the fact that two of her best ones were caught off guard, speechless and without a backup story at the ready. So much for New York’s best criminals._ _

__She took one steadying breath, assessed the situation and quickly took the reigns again._ _

__“Could one of you sneaky things bring me a blanket?” She asked, then watched amused how Lou took off to fulfill her request, and not so amused the gentle and reassuring touch of Lou’s hand to Tammy’s elbow. “I’m staying with Constance here tonight. The rest of you can go back to sleep.”_ _

__A few minutes later Constance had to put up another fight, for she refused to take the couch while Debbie slept on the floor. They traded places. A while later, when everyone in the house was on the verge of going back to sleep and Debbie had no way of knowing if Lou was alone in their room or not, she had to just ask._ _

__“Will you tell me what you saw, Constance?”_ _

__The younger one took her time to answer, but Debbie waited patiently, she was sure the other one wasn’t asleep._ _

__“No, I don’t think so.”_ _

__“I can’t have you being scared of talking to me.”_ _

__Constance chuckled._ _

__“To be honest, mom, I don’t think you’re the scariest thing in this house right now.”_ _

__Although she stayed silent, Debbie couldn’t help but understand, and also agree. Even though if that was a terrifying concept._ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What did you think???  
> I had this chapter perfectly planned out so it was ready quickly but maybe you'll have to be patient for the next one so just a warning. also sorry for any mistakes i'm not that good at proofreading lmao  
> I hope you're all enjoying the story. If you want, I'd love to read your comments.  
> Thanks for reading!


	8. Cat Before The Storm

_Earlier that night._

“Thanks for meeting me here,” Tammy said as she approached Lou outside of Hill House. Lou seemed perfectly at home, smoking a cigarette and smiling at her. While Tammy was wrapped up in a sweater and rubbing her hands on her arms to keep warm. In fact, Tammy realized, Lou looked much colder inside the house that outside in the middle of the night.

“I’m the one that asked you to come here, remember?” Lou smirked.

“Right. I just didn’t think you’d be the one to want to talk.”

“I didn’t say what I wanted to talk about,” Lou raised a playful eyebrow, “maybe I just wanted to try and give you fashion advice again. God knows you still need it.”

Tammy hope the night would disguise her blush and then she replied, “Are you sure? If memory serves me right, the last time you tried that we ended up closer to you trying one of my sweaters.”

“Ugh, don’t remind me of my mistakes. I was blinded by…”

“By _what_ , Lou?” Tammy asked, refusing to let her get away of it. She had a few suggestions and ideas about the things Lou was blinded by a few years ago, but she wanted to hear it from her.

“By your gorgeous brown eyes, of course.” Lou answer with a charming smile that radiated playfulness.

Good save, Tammy thought, pretend you’re joking.

“Well, you have me here. What did you want to tell me?”

“I just wanted to tell you that you look beautiful tonight,” Lou whispered. They both simultaneously laughed at and cursed Lou’s instinctive urge to flirt with her, as well as Tammy’s unavoidable blush. “Actually I just figured out _you_ wanted to talk to me. But I wanted to make the first step. So, here we are. You can talk now.”

Tammy chuckled. No, she still didn’t have Lou figured out, but she could enjoy the unexpected gestures and comments while they lasted.

“I think we should made a truce. Stop going at each other’s throats and move on peacefully.”

Then it was Lou’s turn to laugh, “Tammy, I think the world of you,” Lou whispered, as she delicately brushed a strand of hair out of Tammy’s forehead and tucked it tenderly behind her ear, “but I don’t trust you with this, at all.”

That was one thing about Lou that Tammy did learn to identify. The way Lou tried to distract her with flirting and affection and closeness and sweetness and… maybe it worked. But two could play that game.

“We could always go back to bad habits,” Tammy suggested seductively, as she stepped into Lou’s personal space, “is that what you want, Lou?” their closeness made it just natural for Tammy to raise her hand and caress Lou’s cheek,moving slowly towards her mouth, then just one finger there, her nail grazing Lou’s chin, almost magnetically bringing her forward.

That’s when Tammy stepped away and watched in delight as Lou, who was even more pale than she was, blushed noticeably even in the darkness they were in. When she finally regained control, Lou also stepped back, cleared her throat and ran her hands through her hair, leaving behind a charming blonde mess. “No,” she mumbled.

“Well, me neither! But if I suggest we talk to Debbie I know you’ll say no.”

Lou allowed herself to marvel for a second at Tammy’s ability to shift so quickly between emotions, something that for some reason made her all the more… _interesting_ , for Lou.

“Talking won’t work,” she argued, “Besides, if memory serves _me_ right, the last time you and Debbie were the ones who didn’t want to me about some things.”

Their discussion was abruptly cut then, because in that moment Constance was screaming from the living room of the house, all the other members of the team rushing to her, and Lou and Tammy arrived late, too late.

“Could one of you sneaky things bring me a blanket?” was the only thing Debbie told them when they came in.

Her tone said everything. No, maybe talking wasn’t such a good idea. They both might be in trouble and Lou couldn’t help but feeling responsible for getting Tammy out there that night. When she left to follow Debbie’s orders, she gently squeezed Tammy’s arm as she moved past. They had their differences, their interests and their secrets. But, they also had some sort of alliance, they had a bond.

 

 

The weekend was almost there and like a good leader Debbie had planned to reward her team. Before that, however, there was a lot of work to get done. A lot to get done before they could let their guard down. It was kind of strange concept, to think they had to be on edge about… the house. But that’s how it felt like. So, Debbie sent them all to fulfill not-so-easy duties. Constance was still confined to the first floor, so her, Daphne and Nine Ball were to make sure the bathrooms and the kitchen were in close to impecable conditions. Meanwhile, Tammy, Rose and Amita, the most respectful and reliable to not snoop around the other’s personal belongings, were in charge of making sure the upper floor with all its bedrooms was safe and comfortable. However, that left Debbie and Lou to go over the wild grounds around the property. And since the strange incident of the previous night, Debbie didn’t feel like spending much time alone with Lou. Obviously she wasn’t going to send her with Tammy either. And since Rose seemed partially intimidated by Lou…

“So, how are you and Debbie?” Amita asked Lou as they left the house behind.

“Don’t you think we’ll be done faster if we split up?”

“Okay… what about you and Tammy?”

Lou sighed deeply and willed herself not to snap at her friend. She did end up swinging a little more aggressively the sort of machete she carried around to help them make their way around the wild weeds that had taken over what probably was once supposed to be a nice garden.

“Can you tell me where we’re going?”

“There’s a little… I don’t know, warehouse thing nearby that comes with the house and Debbie wants to know what’s in it.”

Then it was Amita’s turn to sigh. That sounded like a grim job that she would have rather avoid.

“Hey, Lou, why the gloves?”

“Jesus Christ, you ask so many questions,” Lou laughed, but it was a fond laugh, and to honor the relief she felt from the step away from the romantic relationships questionnaire, she decided to answer. “The house is too damn cold,” she shrugged, “and they’re nice. I think I’m into it.”

The pair of leather gloves really did compliment her style quite nicely. Though she consciously avoided mentioning the source of inspiration, the woman of the gorgeous eyes, wonderful dark hair, heavy emotional walls and who once lived in that very house.

Eventually the duo neared the storage room, but a strange noise slowed them down before they reached the place.

“What’s that? Sounds like an agonizing animal,” Lou whispered. “Careful. Could be one of the awful dogs that howl around here the entire night.”

“It sounded like a cat,” Amita remarked.

“Have you seen cats around?”

Before they could continue their discussion, they simultaneously reached the warehouse and heard a very distinct meow. However, when they looked for the sound, the meow seemed interrupted by a horrible growl or cough and Lou was right, it sounded agonizing. Horrified, both women looked around until they spotted the terrible cat on top of the warehouse roof. Its fur was white and gray but incredibly dirty, messy, with leaves and mud stick to it. The cat hissed at them and before they could react, the animal jumped from the roof towards them. Amita had been behind Lou and she didn’t hesitate to turn around and run. Lou, however, tried to move backwards and ended up tripping on the wild tree roots that stood up from the ground.

Laying on her back, her weapon had flown out of her reach and the rabid cat continued to hiss and jump until it was standing on top of Lou’s stomach, the sharp claws ruining her top and the pair of eyes that look definitely crazed stared right into hers. She felt her soul was escaping her and going into those eyes. She stared so hard her head started aching and she could have sworn the animal’s eyes had turned white entirely. Lou closed her eyes and tensed her entire body, trying not to breathe. She could feel the cat slowly moving up her body, the claws ripping her clothes as it moved. Then, a second of stillness. She still felt the weight of the cat on top of her, but she risked it all and opened her eyes. All the air she had been holding left her lungs. The cat’s eyes were absolutely white and it had one paw held in the air slowly moving towards her face. In that moment, Lou couldn’t have closed her eyes even if she tried. She felt the cat’s claws graze her cheeks with the most delicacy possible. But then the claws disappeared and the soft paw of the animal was fully pressed against Lou’s cheek. The contact was enough to conjure a horrifying vision to play in Lou’s mind…

“Lou? Are you okay?” Amita’s tender voice came from her spot hiding behind a tree, and it seemed to distract and pacify the cat, so she kept talking as soothingly as possible. “Hey there. Hello little cat. I see you’ve met my friend. Could you give her some space now? Please?”

If Lou hadn’t been so busy trying to contain her nausea, she would have been impressed by the fact that the cat listened to Amita and without any further attack simply stepped away from Lou, who tried her best at getting over the scare and up from the ground.

“Lou? Really, are you okay?” Amita repeated her question, startled by Lou looking pale and in the edge of throwing up right there and then.

While the blonde woman tried to answer, the words died in her throat when she saw the horrible beast that attacked her a few second ago comfortably snuggled in the arms of her friend. “Amita what the fuck?” she exclaimed, signaling the cat.

“Can we keep it?” Amita asked like a hopefully little kid.

“ _Fuck no!_ That little devil tried to kill me a second ago!”

“Please Lou… The house could use a pet! And we can’t leave it here alone! It looks lost and abandoned and sad and it breaks my heart and-”

Lou raised a hand to stop her and closed her eyes to think for a second, ruminate on the brief vision that just played in her mind after touching the animal, and decided what to do “Debbie is going to kill me,” she grumbled, but yielded under the temptation of bringing more trouble to Debbie like she loved to do, “Fine. You can keep that ugly thing. But, one, keep it away from me. Two, you take care of it. Three… try not to get too attached.”

 

 

Hill House had something deadly about it. Tammy felt it since the first day they arrived. She couldn’t have put it in words eloquently if she had tried but there was just something about the house that felt vaguely like… death. The thought was a disturbing one so she tried not to dwell on it, and attributed to sensation to the fact that there was so much dead greenery inside the house. Plus all that they had to cut and throw out. She had spent years teaching her children they should take care of the environment and a tender part of her heart was genuinely uncomfortable with all the murdering of nature they had done inside the house. It wasn’t Mother Nature’s fault that the abandoned structure was on its path.

Her sensibility often annoyed her, specially when she was in company of Debbie. Now that they were older she could stand up to Debbie almost effortlessly, but it was always a conscious decision, a habit she picked up when they were younger. Trying to stand taller, to seem more confident, to act fearless, to keep up with Debbie. It was exhausting. Then there was Lou, an unexpected obstacle. Tammy hadn’t know Lou long enough to construct defense mechanisms against the alluring blonde woman that went out of her way to tease her on the daily. They weren’t supposed to still be interacting with each other, let alone live in the same house. Lou’s presence threw Tammy off balance, violently. It was exhausting as well.

That feeling of exhaustion was what drew Tammy to slip away from the group and her duties for the day. If she could only have at least an hour to herself, in peace and quiet, with her defenses down and without a role to play and keep up, she’d be fine, she’d survive. She thought she’d have to lock herself in one of the bathrooms or maybe in one of the empty yet creepy bedrooms they weren’t using. She wasn’t expecting the miraculous solution she found in her way.

A greenhouse. A greenhouse! She exclaimed to herself. It was perfect! Exactly the escape she needed. She hurriedly closed the door behind herself and looked around. It was a small square room, four walls made of glass, on the wall right across from the door was what should be a rectangular window that looked out to the back of the grounds behind the house.

The plants there had grown wildly, of course, without anybody to check on them. But somehow they were much more controlled than in the outside of the house. Tammy walked around it, slowly taking in every detail. There were two stone benches each in front of a table full of plants. Tammy sat down in one and took a deep breath, feeling much better. The mess in there was beautiful. The sun coming in, the plants growing without restrictions, the tables overflowing with green leaves, the young woman standing in one of the corners of the room…

Tammy’s heart stopped. One of her hands flew to her mouth and a strangled scream escaped her mouth. Meanwhile, the other beautiful woman in the room seem to blink and take a deep breath in order to come alive. She looked fragile and her eyes overflowed with kindness, also an immense sadness. Still, she smiled timidly at Tammy.

“Hey there,” she said, “My name’s Nell. I used to live here.” She waited for a moment, but Tammy was speechless. “I didn’t mean to scare you. Are you okay?”

Nell walked slowly towards Tammy, as if approaching a scared animal. Which wasn’t too farfetched either, Tammy was equal parts confused and terrified. She looked around, took a steadying breath and accepted her best bet was to go along with whatever strange dream she was having.

“I’m Tammy,” she said, the cleared her throat, noticing her words came out unsteady. That granted her enough time for her curiosity to take over the horde of her other emotions. “Are you… Lou’s… _friend_?”

But Nell only looked at her with confusion clouding her face. The realization came a second later and she brightened up. “Oh! No I don’t know her.” she shook her head and then smiled, “but something tells me my sister might know her, might be that _friend_. Theo.”

“Theo,” Tammy repeated slowly, getting acquainted with the name of a woman she had thought so much about.

“Now that I remember, I think Theo might have mentioned your friend once or twice,” Nell laughed lightly and her eyes sparkled, suddenly she looked so much more… real. “So, Lou… would you be her best _friend_ who was in prison? or the best _friend_ that was married?”

Tammy’s mouth feel open in surprise. Was she being made fun of by a… hallucination? The strangeness of the situation as well as the teasing comment that actually had been on point, had both women sharing a laugh. Tammy relaxed. But her unexpected company, on the other hand, seemed to sober up. Nell was suddenly serious, a little nervous, and when she spoke her words seemed urgent.

“I just wanted to make sure you’re all okay,” she said, “My brother, Steven, wrote a book about this house. You should find it. Tell your friend she shouldn’t get attached to the cat. And tell Lou to keep the gloves.”

Immediately afterwards, Nell walked away, quick and gently like a breeze. She moved around one of the tables and the wild plants hid her from view. Reacting mostly on impulse, Tammy jumped up from her seat and went after the stranger of the delicate cream-colored dress. However, when she reached the other side of the table, nobody was there. Fear and desperation kicked in. Tammy ran all across the room, looked in every corner, there was no possible hiding place and the door had remained closed at all times.

Defeated and with goose bumps covering her arms, she let herself fall down on the stone bench again.

 

 

That day, the night arrived a little too quickly and if it weren’t for the compassionate light of the moon, Hill House would have been surrounded by absolute darkness. On the upper floor of the house, seven women, minus the injured one limited to the first floor, rushed around finishing their nightly routines before getting into bed for one night of well deserved rest.

Prompted by her current roomate, Amita agreed to facing Debbie and presenting her situation, also known as the creepy cat that she took into their temporary home. Full of nerves and good intentions, Amita left Daphne to babysit the cat for a few minutes.

The celebrity-turned-criminal didn’t really mind sitting on the ground, petting the not-too-beautiful cat for a while. In fact, she felt perfectly content there, her finger’s lost in the small animal’s wild fur. The scene remained perfect for a moment or two after Amita walked out of the bedroom, but then things quickly moved downhill.

It started with the cat suddenly yerking away from Daphne’s touch and getting up. Then it started coughing and retching and the sounds were so disgusting the woman got up from the floor.

“Oh God, you’re going to throw up, aren’t you?” she asked the animal, “Please don’t! Can’t you wait for Amita? Oh God, okay, ew that’s gross, cat. Stop it.”

Despite her most encouraging words, she couldn’t do much else for the cat that struggled for a little too long. Daphne was starting to worry and feel nauseous herself, but the cat was standing between her and her escape.

Finally, after long moments of the most disgusting sounds Daphne could think of, something fell out of the cat’s mouth. She wasn’t an expert in animals of any kind, let alone cats. But there was no doubt in herself that the small creature was not supposed to throw up a small pocket watch.

Daphne marveled at the sight of it. The small, circular object came out and opened itself marking two o’clock. She leaned down to pick it up, more curious than grossed out, surprisingly. But she didn’t get to fulfill her intention. A terrible sound interrupted her, and when she looked up her eyes found the cat hissing at her, its eyes turned white in their entirety and about to attack.

 

 

“Why on Earth would you bring a stray cat into the house?” Debbie asked Amita, more tired and confused than actually upset, “What if it has an owner and they come looking for it?”

“No! That won’t happen,” Amita assured her, “You should see it Debbie, it’s so sad and abandoned and it breaks my heart and, and it needs me! That cat has stick with me since we met! I can’t let it go.”

Amita’s insistence was about to convince Debbie, if they hadn’t been interrupted by a shrill scream coming down the hall. Cursing the awful routine that seemed to be part of living in that house, the two of then ran towards the scream as fast as they could and then barged in one of the rooms to find a disaster of pillows thrown around, a cat hissing in one corner and Daphne hiding behind Rose in the other corner. Daphne was holding on to Rose with all her might, her arms surrounding Rose’s shoulders and sporting a few cuts in them. Meanwhile Rose managed to look as scared as she looked brave, holding a halfway-destroyed pillow.

“What’s going on?!” Debbie exclaimed.

This got the cat’s attention, who immediately leaped into Amita’s arms. By then, Lou, Tammy and Nine Ball had reached the doorway of the room as well, and Constance worried questions came from downstairs. Nine Ball made a quick assessment of the situation and with a pat to Debbie’s back, left the scene to go calm Constance worry. It was just a crazy cat. Everything was fine.

“That Devil attacked me!” Daphne shouted to her audience, “Look!” she showed the cuts that were covering her arms.

“That sounds familiar,” Lou murmured loud enough for Amita to hear.

“It was super gross and it threw up a… watch? I swear it was a weird thing that I can’t seem to find right now, but then it attacked me and I had to run and jump and pick up the pillow and then Rose came in and…” Daphne’s voice trailed off for a second before resuming with twice as much ferocity, “Get that thing away from me! It’s banned from my room!”

“It was an accident,” Amita tried to say, but her friends did her a favor and gently pulled her and the cat snuggled in her arms out of the room before Daphne’s temper could go any higher.

Out in the hallway and with the door locked behind them, Debbie, Amita, Lou and Tammy exchanged looks. Debbie shrugged and stared at Amita, “Do you see where this leaves us?”

Amita nodded sadly and mumbled “but it needs me.”

The weight of the decision was pulling down on Debbie. She massaged her temples and sighed, “Okay, I admit it looks like the cat is… fond of you. It’s too late to go out anyway and I have a terrible headache, so you can keep the cat for tonight, okay? I just need all of us to go to sleep and we’ll deal with this tomorrow. How does that sound?”

Before Amita’s grateful smile could completely take over her face, her friends had something to add.

“ _Don’t get too attached._ ”

The sentence came simultaneously from Lou and from Tammy. Realizing what had just happened, their heads snapped to look at each other suspiciously. Debbie scoffed.

“Is there something else you two know that I don’t?” she asked them coldly.

“No,” Lou shrugged, “just a feeling.”

Tammy hummed thoughtfully, trying to change subject, “If the cat’s too aggressive, maybe it’s a mom protecting its kittens.”

“See?” Lou agreed, “Maybe the cat had babies in the warehouse and you’ve separated them. We’re dropping her off there tomorrow.”

Lou’s comment seemed to horrify Amita, who couldn’t stand the idea of herself causing more harm than good to the little animal's life. Tammy couldn’t stand her saddened expression and so she tried to help.

“Hey, it seems Rose is going the spend the night with Daphne. You and your troublemaker of a cat can stay with me tonight,” she said with a smile and supportive hand squeezing Amita’s shoulder, away from the cat’s reach just in case.

“That could be dangerous,” Debbie’s words left her lips before she realized how it sounded.

“No, it’ll be fine,” Tammy assured her with a smile and a small shake of her head. It was a precious moment, Debbie thought. She had learned to appreciate the little moments when her and Tammy could interact without thinking twice each word spoken. Tammy’s reply had been completely natural, unfiltered, and showing the adorable and kind side of her that always held a special place in Debbie’s heart.

This also meant that she could have let it go, agree to their plans, walk away, they were fine. But the balance wasn’t alright. Her heart was tugging at her and although she tried not to, she had to ask, “are you sure?” she said.

Tammy nodded with a warm smile, but quickly arranged for them all to say their goodbyes and retreat to their rooms. Debbie’s genuine concern was too rare, special and too much to take in lightly. Plus, she had caught sight of Lou’s jealous frown. It was best to cut the conversation short and prepare for a night with two new roommates.

 

 

When Rose was done tending to the cuts on Daphne’s arms and they were both relieved to find out how superficial they all turned out to be, she asked if maybe she should leave.

“No, I don’t think you should leave, at all,” Daphne whispered with serious vulnerability.

Rose dedicated her a timid smile, but Daphne was purposefully looking elsewhere. They settled down each one on a bed and although the silence wasn’t of the most uncomfortable kind, Daphne couldn’t hold back her words.

“Why do you have to be so… _you?!_ ” she exclaimed in the dark, sounding deeply frustrated. “You make it so difficult to stay mad at you.”

“Right, well, that’s because I don’t want you to be mad at me, darling.”

“How could I not be mad? You used me! I thought you were perfect and you let me fall for you. But you were just using me as a part of Debbie’s plans!” Daphne sighed and turned in her bed, “I don’t think you understand how much you hurt me.”

“I don’t think you’ve understood my side of the story.”

“I don’t know your side of the story.”

“Right. Then maybe you should ask me about it someday.”

“Okay,” Daphne agreed, exhausted and strangely calm after finally being close to Rose again, “Goodnight,” she said then, because she didn’t know what else to say.

“Goodnight, darling.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> there it is!  
> this was a little longer than expected and it was almost longer i just couldn't figure out when to cut it and start the next chapter  
> there are more secrets coming and hopefully more scares too! (sorry lol)  
> I hope you liked it. thanks for reading! let me know what you thought of this chapter?


	9. (Don't) Say A Few Words

It was night time at Hill House. Eight women were in the deepest of dreams. Most of them wished with all their might that that night would be different and that they wouldn’t have to wake up to one of them screaming in terror. Their wish almost came true. At the very least, horror had the decency to wait that time until the first rays of sun reached the house’s walls.

Amita was slowly pulled out of her sleep by the sounds of her new cat purring at the feet of her bed and her new roommate, Tammy, softly mumbling in her sleep. It was a little too early, the day outside was barely beginning, but it wasn’t such a bad way to wake up, Amita thought. Things would change pretty quickly, though, and not for the better.

The cat’s purring got rougher and rougher until it was some sort of coughing. And Tammy’s unintelligible mumbles turned into actual words. “ _Kitten in a box… kitten in a box,_ ” in mumbles and sighs she repeated herself a few times.

Amita smiled at her, and decided against waking her up. Besides, she had a new, growing concern. She found her cat retching horribly, trying to cough out something and seemingly having a terrible time at that. Amita cringed at the sight and whispered words of encouragement for the cat.

The cat continued the disgusting procedure, the sounds giving Amita goosebumps and maybe nausea. Finally, it happened. From the mouth of that sick and mysterious cat came stumbling out a necklace. Confusion and horror clouded Amita’s vision. She almost didn’t hear Tammy’s next words.

“ _They buried the cat a box_ ,” she said a little more purposely.

The words registered, the pictures of a couple of twins, a little boy and a little girl inside the locket of the necklace also registered in Amita’s mind. She couldn’t focus on those things, however. Suddenly that cat had dropped to the ground, completely still. For every second that the cat wasn’t breathing, Amita’s was breathing more rapidly. She quickly knelt on the ground and tried poking the cat, and she did so until her hand was shaking too badly to keep control.

“Tammy? Are you awake?” Amita asked, her voice trembling as much as her body.

She didn’t look behind her to check if Tammy reacted. She couldn’t tear her eyes away from the limp body of the cat. She didn’t even blink until she noticed the little mouth of the animal moving. Amita let out a sigh of relief and immediately picked up the cat, hoping to assist or encourage the little animal to keep breathing, keep living.

When she was standing up, holding the cat up with both hands and laughing nervously in excitement at the cat’s apparent recovery, things took a grim turn. The body of the cat, that was previously trembling with what Amita assumed were ragged breathing, suddenly stilled. Then she noticed the antennae peeking from the cat’s mouth.

“ _She poisoned our tea!_ ” Tammy exclaimed with urgency, even in her sleep.

The cockroach made its disgusting way out of the cat’s mouth and that first sight shocked Amita. She was positively paralyzed. It wasn’t over, though. That first insect was followed by another, and another, and another. Who knew how many they were. By the time the third one showed up, Amita’s shock finally reached the stage after stillness when she screamed with all the air in her lungs, let the cat fall from her hands and as tears started to fall from her eyes she screamed, and screamed and screamed.

Tammy woke up and Amita was screaming. Her friends arrived to the room and Amita was screaming. Daphne ran away, Nine Ball kicked the many cockroaches dead with her boots, and Amita was screaming. Rose tried to calm her down, Debbie’s headache increased, and Amita was screaming. The necklace with the pictures of the Crain twins inside the locket disappeared without anybody noticing, and Amita was still screaming.

 

 

The funeral for Amita’s cat was one of the strangest events those eight women had ever experienced. They had known the animal for barely a day, it never even got a name, it was a plain bizarre creature, and yet they were all wearing their best clothes, and acting solemn under the inopportune bright sun. Daphne and Rose were the only ones actually dressed as if it was the funeral of a close friend. Black clothes from head to toe, elegant but appropriate jewels, Rose even wore a black veil. They had heard Daphne say, while they got everything ready, that even though it was a sad occasion, they had to make the most out of it. Tammy didn’t even bring black clothes with her, she was suffocating under a sweater borrowed from Debbie. Lou was lost in her thoughts. She couldn’t believe they were seriously going through a funeral for an evil, likely possessed beast. Still, she was wearing all black and just finished digging up a grave for it.

“You wear gloves now?” Tammy asked, stealing Lou’s attention for a moment.

“I think so,” Lou shrugged, then smirked, “do you like them?”

Tammy stammered nervously for a moment, pushed by her heart and maybe the instructions given to her by a ghost, “I think you should keep them.”

More than willing to interrupt their moment, Debbie reached out in front of them and passed a box to their grieving friend. Amita accepted the wooden box that was just big enough to fit the cat that wasn’t robust or healthy to begin with. She held the box with both hands and closed her eyes for a minute, it was strangely light.

She was terrible at goodbyes, she had always been. When she was little, she had a cat and it died while she was still just a kid. They buried the animal in their backyard in a ceremony similar to this one. What Amita’s parents never saw was that Amita snook out of the house later, at night, and she dig out the box again. They never explained to her what it was all about. She never understood. She retrieved her pet, stared at it, stayed beside it for hours, waiting for it to wake up. It never did. The insects approached and that was enough to horrify the little girl into throwing everything back in the hole on the ground. Many years later, when Amita’s father died, her perception of death hadn’t improved much. Death, to her, was something disgusting, a filthy sleep that attracted insects and it was best to not dwell on it.

When she opened her eyes, she was certain she wasn’t going to open the box, she wasn’t going to check and see if the cat tried to breathe again, she wasn’t going to cry when cockroaches spilled out of the animal’s mouth again. No. She was going to kneel down, she was going to place the box in the hole they caved on the ground and she was never going to find out how the Crain family, many years before, buried a kitten in that exact same spot.

“Would anybody like to say a few words?” Amita asked with an unsteady voice.

Everyone looked at each other nervously and eventually all looks settled on Debbie Ocean, their very much strong-hearted, level-headed, brave and articulate leader. But Debbie wasn’t in the mood to come up with a speech on the spot. She had been carrying a headache for a while and it only continued to grow every second. The intensity of the sun that day, the pressure of playing the part, her uncomfortable clothes, everything was shaping up to be too much for her.

“I’m sorry,” she cleared her throat, “I don’t think I can. I can’t stand my head right now, I think I have to go and lay down for a minute. You guys go on without me.”

Several disagreements were thought in the minds of the other women present there, but none of them actually spoke. A moment later, Debbie was disappearing through the front doors of Hill House and Rose was improvising an eulogy for the cat she battled against for Daphne the previous night.

Once inside the house, Debbie felt like her migraine might split her skull open. The pain was so bad it was making her dizzy. She tightly closed her eyes for a moment, hoping to ground herself. However, when she opened them, she was back again in the middle of one of the eerie visions that had been haunting her ever since they arrived at Hill House. She was seeing the house like it probably looked a few decades ago. Clean, recently restored, warm with the presence of a family. In fact, Debbie’s eyes followed the sight of two little kids running to the hall behind the stairs.

Against her better judgement, not knowing what else to do, Debbie followed the children. She followed them into a place of dreams. She marveled at the conditions of the house, the impeccable floors and the grand statues present in there. There wasn’t much time to admire, though. Because timid but happy two little kids were standing in front of her. A little girl in a dress, and a little blonde boy with glasses.

“Do you want to have a tea party?” the girl asked with a lot of enthusiasm.

Before Debbie could determine where lies the line between cute and creepy, considering her circumstances, the little boy also addressed her. “You should come. Mom and Abigail are coming with us.”

“Mom said she wants _you_ to join us!” she girl added with even more excitement.

“Really?” Debbie heard herself say, not knowing where that hopefulness came from in her voice.

The twins started walking away and Debbie couldn’t help but follow them. She abruptly stopped a few steps later, when a horrible sound came from behind her. It was the sound of a rope stretching to it’s last capacity. The sound of a rope tightening completely around something. The sound of someone’s last breath. Then, Debbie turned around…

 

 

Lou thanked God for her reflexes, good ears, plus her tall body and subsequently long legs, because they gave her a headstart in running inside the house faster than anybody else when they heard Debbie start screaming. Lou found her paralyzed in the middle of the dusty and neglected space behind the main staircase. A bunch of creepy and halfway destroyed statues were standing around Debbie, she only stood out because of how badly she was shaking.

Debbie was covering her face with her hands and her only reaction when Lou wrapped her arms tightly around her was to let a strangled sob escape her lips. Stunned, in a situation she never even imagined she’d ever been in, Lou was just following her instincts, and all they said was to make sure Debbie was okay. When Tammy approached them, Lou raised a hand and the message was luckily transmitted quickly. Tammy immediately turned around and stopped the group of five that was a seconds away from watching their bold leader in the middle of breakdown. Tammy calmed them down and gently pushed them away, only looking back once to receive the grateful smile Lou sent her way.

A minute or so passed and Lou heard their friends leave the house again and Debbie calm down in her arms. Lou didn’t let go, though, not yet. In fact, she held physical contact with Debbie the entire time, as she gently walked her away from there, almost carried her up the stairs and helped her settle down in bed and take some her medication for the headaches. Afterwards they laid together in bed, simply holding hands.

Lou tried to read a book while Debbie drifted in and out of a restless sleep for the better part of two hours, but she couldn’t quite focus. In the moments of consciousness and clarity Debbie had during this time, she was more than slightly troubled. She felt the impulse to run away, deny any and every display of vulnerability she had just shown, but her body just wouldn’t answer to her. She felt embarrassed beyond relief.

Her relationship with Lou wasn’t supposed to be anything like this. They were partners in crime and maybe in bed, but this was completely uncharted territory. Debbie wasn’t supposed to need someone to hold and Lou most definitely wasn’t supposed to be that person. Lou was meant to be bold and courageous, clever and sly, think alike and help the heist succeed, nothing else. Debbie was meant to be the definition of independent, getting by alone with only the occasional aid of Tammy’s gentle presence in her life, nobody else. Then why did it felt so vital to have Lou’s hand holding hers in a difficult moment like that?

“I’m sorry you had to see that,” Debbie said, sitting up in bed.

“What are you talking about? You look so cute when you take a nap,” Lou replied with effortless charm.

“You know that’s not what I mean.”

“Okay, but do you know that I don’t mind? I’m here for you, Debbie.”

“I think I want to be alone, Lou.”

Debbie blurted out the words without giving them too much thought. She didn’t have time to worry she’d offend Lou, because the blonde only laughed at her.

“Oh _really?_ ”

“Yes… or maybe I just want to be alone with you.”

“Thought so.”

Lou leaned over to briefly kiss Debbie’s lips, then, without much effort they found themselves cuddling in the middle of the bed. It wasn’t so often they got to just lie down, enjoy the silence, exchange tender caresses and nothing else. After a while, this picked Debbie’s interest and she forced herself to break the silence.

“You know, I think this is the longest we’ve ever shared a bed with our clothes on.” Debbie confessed and smiled at the sound of Lou’s chuckle, “Are we getting old?”

“Hell no!” Lou exclaimed and it was Debbie’s turn to laugh. “We are just a little less young, a little stupid, I suppose.”

“You think we were young and stupid?”

“Well, I might have a regrettable tattoo and if I remember correctly you were in prison.” Lou laughed and stole a kiss from Debbie. But Debbie was suddenly uncomfortable. She slowly disentangled herself from Lou. “You made _one_ bad job with a loser and I lose you for five years.”

Debbie’s eyes were glued to the ceiling as a series of memories flashed through her mind, all the things, the details, the mistakes Lou didn’t know and Debbie was too terrified to tell her. Almost unconsciously she groaned to herself.

“Hey, it’s okay, you’re out now,” Lou whispered comfortingly, “you’re here with me.”

“Yes,” Debbie agreed halfheartedly, but instead of letting herself get lost in her lover’s embrace again, she sat up in bed.

There was a lot in her mind, a million different things she wanted to say to Lou. “Thanks for everything, thanks for loving me,” “thanks for being there, for picking me up, for welcoming me again,” “you are everything to me,” and a simple “I love you.” But not a single word could come out of her lips, they were all stuck in her throat. She looked at Lou and tried to smile apologetically, but she knew Lou well enough to make out the thin layer of disappointment clouding her pretty blue eyes. It killed Debbie that she was somehow letting Lou down, but this was just not her plan. However…

“Stay with me?” Debbie asked with sincerity overflowing her voice.

The question was clearly not meant just for that moment. Debbie was asking Lou to be patient, be kind, not give up on her, because she would find the words, soon. She’d fix whatever they were, or whatever they were becoming.

 

 

While Debbie and Lou took the day off to make sure Debbie’s headache eased, the rest of the group entertained themselves in all kinds of activities. Tammy and Amita splurged on preparing the best meal they have had in that week. Daphne decided to lower her guard for a while and take a walk along the property with Rose. The time spent together and the mindless conversation was a relief for both of them. Meanwhile Constance and Nine Ball entertained themselves looking over videos and pictures the hacker had taken the throughout the week, discussing if every blur was a ghost or not.

“Do you know what happened to Debbie?” Amita asked Tammy while the finished the generous lunch they had prepared.

“Nope. Lou took care of her.”

“And you’re okay with that?”

In a way, Tammy wasn’t concerned. She knew Lou would do anything and everything for Debbie’s wellbeing. Another part of her, though, was aching with that instinct she had of always taking care of Debbie. She only shrugged in response.

“What _even_ is going on between you three?! Please tell me, I don’t understand. _Please_ ,” Amita begged and it was so amusing to Tammy that she decided to yield, even if just a little.

“We are trying to figure out the different ways in which you can love someone that matters a lot to you,” Tammy spoke slowly, in the same voice she used to explain difficult subject to her kids. “Romantically, or not,” Tammy sighed, “either way, first we have a lot of old habits to break, secrets to share and feelings to admit.” she shrugged and finished with great seriousness. “I’m just trying to help them do what’s best for them. I’ll do anything to protect… them.”

“Both?” Amita asked and Tammy hummed in response, “Protect them… even from each other?”

“Even from me.”

With that, Tammy walked away. She pretended she didn't hear Amita say she was still confused. Her original intention was to sit down at the table, but when she caught sight of Rose and Daphne in the middle of a serious conversation, she decided against it and went in search of Constance and Nine Ball.

“I had a good time today,” Rose confessed softly, unable to stop thinking about the serene walk they shared around Hill House, enjoying the sun, the butterflies passing by and, of course, Daphne’s smile.

“Me too,” Daphne replied, but her tone was gaining back that reserved quality. “I don’t think we should do that again, though.” she added and looked away, not being able to bear the sight of Rose’s heartbroken eyes. “In fact, tonight you should go back to your room. Don’t you think?”

“No! Not really,” Rose replied with that spontaneous honesty typical of hers, the one that sometimes embarrassed the people around her and always made Daphne laugh. Like right then. The actress had to cover her mouth with a hand to hide the endeared smile that won her over. She was serious in her request, though.

Rose had a lot more she wanted to say to Daphne. She could have reminded her she was a woman of a lot of patience, she’d wait for her. She could have reminded her of the conversation they still owed each other, the explanations Daphne still didn’t want to hear. She could even try to tell her she still loved her, and she’d always love her. But Daphne knew all that already, didn’t she?

Besides, they were interrupted. Tammy arrived back in the kitchen and trailing behind her were Constance and Nine Ball still in the middle of a heated argument debating something ghost related.

“It’s just the wind, kid. It’s always the wind.” Nine Ball was saying.

“Oh! Yeah! The wind! Of course. How didn’t I think of that? Obviously the wind is moving the goddamned statues of this house,” Constance argued with wild hand gestures, “They’re called statues for a reason… they’re statues! Oh wait. I have a question.”

Constance attention span wasn’t her strongest suit. As soon as she sat down at the table across from Rose and Daphne her mind jumped into a completely different subject. Not knowing what else to do, or knowing she couldn’t avoid the younger one from asking her question, Daphne nodded, “Go ahead.”

“Okay so, if last night the cat attacked you and Rose came and saved you…” at Constance words a few low chuckles were heard around the group and Daphne visibly blushed, “how come Rose is the one with the scratches on her arms?”

Her question made all the heads in the room snap towards their arms. Effectively, Daphne’s arms, that last night had been covered in little red lines caused by the angry cat, were now smooth as always, not a single scar in sight. Daphne looked marvelled at her healed arms, then she turned towards Rose and her breathing stopped. Rose was cautiously running her fingers over the thin red scars and flinching every so often.

Well, none of them could explain that. The best bet for Nine Ball, who was determined to stay skeptic, was to quickly move them all on to another subject. Tammy was sitting at the table and Amita was paralyzed in the middle of the kitchen with a tea pot held in both hands. Nine Ball moved to the pantry in hopes to find a distraction. She got more than she bargained for.

“What the fuck?” she whispered, still not stealing her friends’ attention. “Hey! Look at this,” she called them all out and then turned around with a weirded out expression in her face and an even stranger object in her hand, “who the fuck leaves rat poison in the pantry?”

She was holding what looked like, well, rat poison. But the bottle was noticeably old. Something that couldn’t have been used in decades. Yet it was there, among their food. Most of the group were starting to comment how strange it was, how weird the bottle looked, how horrible would it be to find rats. But Amita remained paralyzed. In her mind, she could perfectly hear the words Tammy had spoken while asleep that night. She turned to Tammy and saw her oblivious to the horrible coincidence. She looked down at her own hands, about to serve tea for all of them…

“What the fuck?” Nine Ball repeated when Amita simply let the teapot fall down and crash on the floor, spilling its contents. “You okay, Amita?”

“Yes!” Amita squealed nervously, then cleared her throat. “Yes, yes, I’m fine. All good. I just - uh - coffee? Maybe we should have coffee instead?”

The other five women in the kitchen nodded along suspiciously. But a few minutes later they were all over the strange accident. In the kitchen and in the main bedroom, all the women attempted to ignore everything from the creepy events of the week to their own personal demons. Very quickly the rooms of that house were filling up with unfinished conversations, well-kept secrets and unexplainable events.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> can i please just give Debbie a rest?  
> anyway i feel like this fic is a little messy? but i hope you guys are enjoying it!  
> tell me who's red room you'd like to see next??  
> thank you so much to everyone who's reading and leaving comments i love you


	10. Little Detour

_Lou and Theo were sitting at a park bench, trying really hard to pretend they were normal friends, hanging out as friends, totally didn’t spend the night together, as they often did. Theo was wearing her gloves, Lou was wearing one of her outfits that nobody else could pull off, and they were sharing a pack of cigarettes. Surprising even each other, they were discussing some rather personal matters of their pasts, families and lovers. Afterall, if they wanted to insist they weren’t actually a couple, at least they had to start acting like real friends._

_“I’m sorry about your mom,” Lou said. “I feel weird that we’ve been… I’ve known you for what? weeks, now? And I had no idea.”_

_“It’s okay,” Theo waved her off, “I’m fine.”_

_“I see,” Lou hummed, staring at Theo, “In fact, you seem like you’ve dealt with that really well.” Of course, since she shared a few of the same bad habits and even worse coping mechanisms, Lou thought Theo was doing perfectly._

_“I’m a fucking doctor, Lou,” she laughed in response and then got just slightly serious again, “The… details, the circumstances of her death are something that still obsess a little the rest of my family. But, the fact that she’s dead, the trauma of it all, I’ve acknowledged it, accepted it, moved on.”_

_“You sure have,” Lou mumbled, but also felt the need to lighten up the conversation, “the rest of your family sounds crazy, though, no offence.”_

_“None taken,” Theo laughed, “but, speaking of crazy, you do remember you just confessed a minute ago that your beloved girlfriend is in prison, right?” Theo asked playfully and Lou nodded affirmatively. “And that before you stumbled in my path you may or may not have been sleeping with your girlfriend’s childhood best friend?” same playful tone, same affirmative nod. “How do you go from a woman in prison to a married, suburban mom?”_

_“Don’t forget the little detour I take with a gorgeous psychologist with a haunted past.” Lou mumbled seductively as she slowly moved towards Theo. She leaned in and kiss her slowly, leaving her with a teasing lip bite. At the moment, they were both certain their time together wouldn’t last much longer, their paths probably wouldn’t cross again, and much less would their pasts overlap each other. They may or may not have been wrong._

 

 

Nine Ball closed her eyes and exhaled, the smoke quickly filling up the small room. She was lucky she’d found a small room in that house that she could claim all to herself. She had put all her computers and related items in there, cleaning one desk and half of the room, letting the dust pile up on the other side. The room was perfect, square, practical, one single rectangular window on one wall and the door on the wall right across. All hers.

She typed a little bit more on a program she was working on and then focused on the images on a different screen, pure entertainment. Debbie had asked her to set a few cameras around the property and on every door to the house, a security system. Of course, maybe Nine Ball guessed she’d need the distraction and she took the time to set cameras in most of the rooms of the house, avoiding the bedrooms because she was aware of all the sexual tension that manifested in more than a few directions concerning a few members of the team. She wasn’t about to betray their trust… or maybe she was just scared Debbie would find out… no, no, definitely she was just being respectful, of course she was.

In the stairs of the house, enjoying the sun and each other’s friendship, Rose and Amita were probably discussing something fashion/jewels related. Inside the house, Tammy was escaping from Daphne’s advances and trying to find a quiet place to read her book. Debbie and Lou… well they weren’t in any of the public areas of the house. Constance was skating on the upper hallways of the house. And a little girl in a blue dress was sitting at the bottom of the spiral staircase.

Nine Ball groaned to herself and switched to the outdoors cameras. She was tired of these little illusions. She didn’t want to hear anything else about ghosts. They just weren’t real. There was always a good explanation for everything they were seeing inside that terrible house. For example, it didn’t matter that she was seeing five kids playing on the outside of the house. She was high. It didn’t count.

Tired of the deceiving images, Nine Ball shifted to a different screen that was displaying a page of text. She had found online a book called _The Haunting of Hill House_ , by someone named _Steven Crain_ , who claimed he had lived in that house with his family when he was a kid. All of it was fiction. Obviously. So what if there were a few coincidences with the characters. Lou’s gloves. Tammy sleep talking. Debbie’s migraines. The cat funeral. There were many things in that book that would explain a lot about Hill House and life inside it. Things that would help them understand. Things that would help them protect each other.

If the threats were real, of course. Which they weren’t. So, should Nine Ball warn them about the things the book said? Debbie had told them all, even long before they had to escape to Hill House, that they should do everything in their power to protect each other. However, the further Nine Ball got into the book and one character in particular started to worry her, she realized, maybe it was Debbie who all of them should try to protect the most.

All these turbulent thoughts that contradicted each other were making Nine Ball dizzy. Or perhaps she should stop smoking for a minute. But she was just so comfortable in that room. She didn’t want to overthink about it. She didn’t want to check the blueprints of the house to find out exactly where she was sitting. She didn’t want to acknowledge the coincidences between the horror novel and their lives. What even matter all those ideas and resolutions. She was going to fall asleep in a soothing haze and hopefully forget about the ghosts and the dangers that all of them and specially Debbie were facing.

 

 

Sunday at last. It was the breath of fresh air everyone was needing. This time Debbie was one hundred per cent determined to make it last. There was nothing on this life (or beyond) that would ruin this Sunday for the team, Debbie said to herself. Just twenty-four hours, that’s all she needed. She made a promise to God, or the Devil, or whoever had the jurisdiction for Hill House, that if they gave her just one day of peace and quiet for her and her new found family, then she’d be capable of fighting any ghost in the musty basement of the house if necessary. They had buried a devilish cat the previous day, for fuck’s sake, they deserved a day off, didn’t they? She was convinced they did, and she’d make sure of it.

Since taking the previous day off to relax in the company and care of Lou in a way more vulnerable than ever before, Debbie was feeling much better. Admittedly, the exposure was terrifying and truthfully a strange concept for her. But she trusted Lou, and it was about time she started acting like it.

With a clear head and a better mood, Debbie took to wander about the house, checking in on her friends. She was happy all the while. She scolded Constance for putting too much pressure on her healing foot, she chatted with Rose and Amita, she shot a murderous look to Daphne when she caught her trying to flirt with Tammy, she made good use of her private time with Lou, and… well, it had been a while since she saw Nine Ball anywhere, but that woman was pretty independent and evasive when she wanted to be.

Debbie was getting ready to join some of her friends outside, when one of the statues downstairs caught her eye. She stood in front of it, observing it for the art piece that it was and for the piece of a mystery that it also was. Could that statue and the ones alike have really moved since they arrived to the house, like everyone was claiming?

She was still staring at the statue, her head slightly tilted, her hands intertwined casually in front of her, when some movement caught her attention from the corner of her eye. She turned her head, and the vision she saw was so unexpected, so shocking and so familiar that she didn’t even react at first. Standing a few feet away from her was _Claude Becker_ , the one and only. He was there! Eyes sparkling mischievously, smirk vanished by the surprise of anyone who first meets Debbie Ocean, his clothes exactly like that day they met ten years ago.

Debbie couldn’t actually hear his voice, only in her mind she could replay the way he said only his name. That fateful introduction that would steal about a decade in total of her life. She did see him turn to her, extend his hand, wait for her…

_No, no, no, no._

She turned her back on him and hurriedly walked away of the vision and out of the house. That wasn’t Claude, she didn’t just see him, that was impossible, that meant nothing. That just didn’t happen. If she didn’t acknowledge it then it didn’t happen, it didn’t matter, it meant nothing, _right?_

Her anxieties were quickly vanished, though. Because the first person Debbie saw when she walked out the house was Lou, coming up the stairs towards her.

“I was just looking for you,” Lou announced. Just the sight of her and the sound of the voice were enough to transport Debbie to more logical albeit not less crazy times. Granted, back then, the madness was provided by their own doing and not in the slightest by forces beyond nature. In any way, they were used to unconventional lifestyles. As long as they had each other they could conquer anything, right?

Lou stopped at the last steps and with dramatic gallantry extended her hand to Debbie, who humored her and with equal graceness accepted the gesture and arm in arm they descended the steps into the grounds below. They day wasn’t quite as sunny as the previous one. It was windy and the white fluffy clouds in the sky weren’t a match for the gray monsters approaching in the distance. But it was still pleasant to walk outside.

“I think we have to talk,” Debbie confessed without much preambles.

Lou nodded in what seemed to be agreement, but she had her reservations. Their history was nothing short of a Pandora’s box. And of course they were interrupted.

Rose had made her way back into the house and was probably getting dragged into trouble by Constance curiosity, who’s latest adventure included looking around the forgotten boxes of previous owners of HIll House. When Nine Ball came out of… wherever she was, she’d probably join them. Meanwhile, Amita was acting as a friendly and trustworthy middle ground between Daphne and Tammy, so that the three of them were actually enjoying themselves out in the gardens of the house.

In fact, while Debbie and Lou walked around the outside of the house, they spotted Tammy running away from her friends. Amita was holding a sunflower that had a bee settled on top of it. Tammy adored bees, but she was actually terrified of having one too close to her. Amita and Daphne were gleefully laughing at her, chasing her. But they barely registered to Debbie and Lou, who were more than transfixed by the sight of Tammy, head thrown back, unrestrained laughter, hair flowing in the wind, she was radiant, she was a start, brilliant and completely out of reach.

Simultaneously, Debbie and Lou stopped in their tracks, followed Tammy with their curious eyes and chuckled lightly, enamored. In what felt like an eternity but was actually a few seconds, they woke up from the daze and realized who they were in company of. They had to shake their heads, clear their throats, and avoid each other’s eyes for a few seconds. They continued walking, though they were noticeably standing more tensely. Keeping hold of each other’s arms when they knew there was something wrong, something standing between them, felt absolutely wrong.

“Maybe we shouldn’t talk?” Lou suggested, finally.

Debbie wanted to worry. Lou was the one who started that whole “ _We should talk_ ” business a few weeks ago, and now she didn’t want to talk? However, Debbie was never quite capable of executing her planned reactions and emotions when it came to Lou. Because as the spoke her proposal, Lou’s face scrunched up adorably, her accent made a noteworthy appearance, and her hold tightened affectionately on Debbie’s arm. Could she ever resist her?

“No, maybe we shouldn’t talk right now,” Debbie agreed.

Before she could steer them into a different subject, they heard somebody calling out, “Ladies! Hello! Where are you all?” it was Rose. “Here! At the front of the house! On the window! Can you see me? Hello? Oh there you are! Hi there! Look what I found!”

When Debbie and Lou arrived at the point requested, Tammy, Amita and Daphne where already there, plus Nine Ball, who looked worn down and was just walking down the steps of the house. The five of them stood right outside of the house and looked up to the window of the second floor. There was standing Rose, poking her head out of the window, showing her beautiful face, but her usually wild and untamable hair was covered by a hat. A black, dusty, bowler hat that was maybe a little too big for her head.

“How do I look?” Rose asked to her crowd. “Isn’t it perfect?!”

Something strange happened then. Everyone's first reaction was to go for a mumbled, awkward response to let Rose down kindly. But then, most of them really started to feel oddly about the hat. To Debbie, it felt like she was seeing an important piece of the house completely out place, maybe like she had seen someone else wearing it, but not someone from the present. To Lou, the hat reminded her of a strange feeling she had that one time she went down to the basement, but she couldn’t be sure, she felt a strange pull to physically touch the hat. Amita was sure she had seen that exact same hat in one of the bedrooms, the time she sleep walked and had a dream of a pair of twins sleeping soundly in their beds, yes, it was probably just a dream. Nine Ball was the most alarmed of all, she hazily remembered, before she fell asleep, reading something on Steve Crain’s book about a wickedly tall man with a hat just like that one. All their worrisome thoughts, however, were really nothing in comparison to Daphne’s reaction. Because she reacted not out of fear, but out of love. She wasn’t quick enough to use her mind and remember she was supposed to be mad at Rose. She spoke with her heart.

“You look gorgeous!” she exclaimed with a joyful laugh that seemed to stop time for the broken couple while they made powerful eye contact, but a second later, her laugh faded, and time rushed forward in a wild manner. Time ran and jumped off a cliff and as it fell, Daphne groaned and in a way that only she could, exploded along with her emotions. “ _Ugh!_ No! No you don’t! Stop it! I shouldn’t… You shouldn’t! You liar and cheater and manipulative… liar! I hate you!”

That last word was still echoing around when Daphne was a few feet away, running into the forest with tears streaming down her face. Matching tears were forming in Rose’s eyes, who couldn’t believe what she had just heard. Her heart felt splintered in a million pieces and she felt like she was about to faint. Which was tremendously alarming, considering she was still holding most of her weight out of the window of the second floor.

However, while most of her friends had been outside, Rose had been supporting Constance curiosity, which was what brought them to the discovery of the damned hat. But also meant that Constance was right behind her, ready to kindly pull her away from the window and hold her as best as she could while her friend cried those heavy tears of love.

Still outside of the house, the group was petrified. All except for Debbie, as usual, who knew how to lead a situation better than anybody else. She sighed gravely. She was worried, of course she was. But she was optimistic. This was a terrible moment, but she knew Daphne and Rose shared a genuine love that could stand the test. They just needed a little help.

“Alright, I’ll go after Daphne this time. I want all of you to go inside and tell Rose how fucking pretty she looks.”

Her order was heard, her team was really to comply, and so Debbie turned her back on Hill House and headed for the woods. Maybe she caught sight a different silhouette on the window where Rose was a minute ago. The silhouette of a slender, young, blonde woman that most definitely wasn’t a part of her team, a part of that century, or a part of reality. Maybe she just didn’t see her.

A few minutes later, Debbie found Daphne. The movie star was done wiping away her tears and she was sitting on a fallen trunk of a tree, regaining her composure. As soon as she saw Debbie and she was close enough to hear, Daphne sighed dramatically, shook her head, flipped her hair away and spoke. “I just monumentally embarrassed myself over there, didn’t I?

“Yeah, well, that happens when you love someone.”

“ _Love!_ ” Daphne exclaimed, enraged by hearing that word, “Love…” she repeated, but she didn’t find it in herself how to keep going.

“Yes, Daphne, love. Don’t try to bullshit me, you two love each other. Deeply.”

Daphne seemed at a loss for words. In fact, they both looked a little out of their depths. When they met, they first got along just great. But since Daphne’s breakup with Rose, when she decided she could flirt with Tammy to avoid the ugly feelings in her heart, it appeared Debbie had decided she wasn't so fond of her anymore. They knew it wasn’t so serious, and that partially Daphne continued to flirt with Tammy just to make Rose jealous, to annoy Debbie, and because a flustered Tammy was a sight endearing for everyone. Still, it had been a good while since they both specifically sat down to talk so seriously and so openly.

“I love her Debbie. I fell in love with her… madly, truly in love. In a way that I didn’t even believe was real! But then I found out it wasn’t real. It really wasn’t. She was who she was because _she_ needed _me_ for _your_ little con. I was played. I do feel lied and cheated to and manipulated and I can’t just…”

“But you don’t hate her,” Debbie interrupted her.

“No… of course not. I love her. And I miss her. Terribly.”

Daphne was pouting. And Debbie had to sigh again. She really didn’t plan this through. Her instinct was to give orders, “Well then do something about it!” she exclaimed, before she remembered her self assigned role of supportive and understanding friend, “Sorry… What I mean is, she has given you time and space, Daphne. Maybe it’s time you give her something. If you really love her, if you want to fix this, maybe it’s time you should start pushing to move forward.”

Then it was Daphne’s turn to sigh in relief. She wasn’t looking forward to letting down her guard again and letting Rose gloriously walk back into her life. But it was true Rose never really left her heart. She loved her more than enough to take the risk of vulnerability again. So, Daphne felt a little more centered and determined, renewed with energy. Which she expressed by opening her arms and grinning widely, requesting a hug and, as Debbie knew, not taking no for an answer. Albeit begrudgingly, Debbie complied with the hug that, to her relief, wasn’t excessively long. What she didn’t enjoy, however, was the words the Daphne shared next, when they pulled away from the embrace.

“Now, I’ll just need one more favor from you, Ocean,” Daphne said and after Debbie nodded for her to go on, Daphne lowered her voice, “I’m going to need both of us to pretend we absolutely did not see that little girl in the blue dress scurrying around this goddamned forest. Is that okay?”

“Let’s go back to the house, then.” Debbie replied without hesitation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hugh Crain's voice: "I can fix this" don't worry lol  
> well finally this chapter wasn't so mean to Debbie at least...  
> I have a few spooky ideas and some important moment for Debbie and Lou planned. but if you have any ideas or thing you'd like to see... please share!  
> I hope you liked this chapter, thanks for reading and let me know what you thought! :)


	11. Doors

It was a little after midnight. So, Sunday was technically over, and Debbie Ocean could sleep peacefully knowing that despite the unceasing darkness and eeriness of Hill House, her team had a good day, safely. Sure, there was that one explosive fight between Daphne and Rose, but that was a reality that she was sure they could work out. It wasn’t something supernatural at all. Additionally, without a headache the entire day, Debbie was sleeping better than any other night in that house.

On the other hand, beside her Lou wasn’t so lucky. She woke up a few times throughout the night, twisting and turning, stealing a look at Debbie’s steady sleep and then just staring at the ceiling. At some point, she turned her back to Debbie and she was on the verge of falling asleep again finally, when she was interrupted. She felt the bed dip a little behind her, the sheets rustle and an arm settle around her. She mumbled in acknowledgement, encouraging Debbie to further cuddle to her. She was about to fall asleep once again when the arm shifted and a cold hand intertwined with hers. Holding on tightly.

“Did you have another nightmare?” Lou muttered, hoping to really achieve sleep. But the hand in her hand was a little too cold, holding a little too tightly. Lou grumbled and tried to move her hand a little, but the hold only tightened, “Ease up a little,” she said. When the touch was turning almost painful, Lou complained more seriously “Theo? You’re squeezing too tight.”

Lou yanked her arm away and sat up in bed. But when she turned around, all air escaped her lungs and instead she was filled with the dread that came with the rapid series of awful realizations that attacked her at once.

_No one_ was there holding her hand. There was a woman in bed but with her back turned. And that woman wasn’t Theo. That was Debbie. Why was she thinking of Theo? Because this wasn’t a dream. Because this happened before. This exact same terrifying experience happened to her once when she was spending the night with Theo. She convinced herself it was a dream back then. But now she couldn’t. Because Theo wasn’t there. Debbie was there. And they were in Hill House. The horrible place were a young Theo once had the same experience. The moment she started living with fear. Living with ghosts of everything she touched. When she started wearing the gloves. _The gloves._

Hurriedly, Lou looked to her side, at the pair of leather gloves she kept on her bedside table. What was she doing?

She hadn’t decided on what she was going to do, when she heard the frightening sound of the door of their bedroom opening. She didn’t look. She kept her head turned to the side. Only a few seconds passed, the door hadn’t stopped creaking, but then it slammed closed. It slammed closed with an alarming force that made Lou jump in bed and close her eyes tightly. Her breathing sped up, her heart was beating too fast, she was sweating. She had no idea what was going on, if there was something going on at all, if someone entered the room, or if someone left the room. Either way it was the most terrifying of thoughts. She couldn’t move, she didn’t dare open her eyes and she was starting to feel like she couldn’t breathe.

“Debbie…” she barely whispered as she started to shake, “Debbie. Debbie. Debbie.”

She was still mumbling that name and she didn’t not stop, not even when Debbie finally woke up, endlessly confused by the sight of Lou sitting up in bed, shaking in fear and refusing to turn her face or open her eyes.

Debbie wrapped her arms around Lou, tenderly stroking her arms, leaving little kisses on her shoulder. “Shh, I got you,” she whispered when Lou started to cry, “it’s okay, we’re fine. I got you, Lou.”

 

 

It was an understatement to say that Lou didn’t had a good night of sleep. Plus, she usually prided herself on not being a crier. So, she was making up for it by being in a terrible mood. Plus, she had decided to fight the inevitable and skipped wearing her gloves that day. Which in exchange caused strange reactions from her… literally every time she touched something or something. She didn’t want to feel how easily distracted Constance was. She didn’t want to immerse herself in Nine Ball’s investment in whatever book she was reading. She didn’t want feel Amita’s loneliness or Rose’s anxiety or Daphne’s regret. Even less so, she didn’t want to feel anything about the lives lived inside the goddamned house. A little after noon, it was her who had a headache instead of Debbie, who was once again busy directing her entire team around the house.

It was Monday. Week two at Hill House. And there was still a lot of work to do. They rested for a day and it had been more than enough for the house to become a mess again. At the very least, on the social side of it all, her team was holding up a little better than the previous week. Were they getting used to the house or was Hill House getting used to them? In whichever case, Debbie enjoyed the surge of pride that came with it. Of course there were some exceptions. Rose and Daphne were avoiding each other as if their lives depended on it, which, sometimes it looked like it did. But at least they weren’t fighting. And then there was Lou. Her Lou. Who tended to be as pragmatic as Debbie was. She wasn’t taking well her own display of vulnerability. And, if Debbie was being honest with herself, she had no idea how to help Lou with that matter. She simply wasn’t used to dealing with feelings on any end, giving or receiving, not as intensely as everything was lately. Up until that point in her life that hadn’t been a problem. But ever since they arrived at Hill House they had been thrown all kinds of emotional obstacles that were challenging her more than anything else ever had.

So, Debbie juggled with her plans, her several lists of things to do, and orchestrated a perfect plan for the day. There was a lot to do, there would always be. She would take cleaning the upper floor of the house with Daphne, to keep her focus and away from Rose. Amita would accompany Rose working on the the rest of house, hopefully knowing when to listen instead of asking too many questions. Meanwhile, Lou would stay with Constance, who hopefully wouldn’t ask a single question and instead would make up an excellent distraction. 

Then, there was a pair left, that Debbie wasn’t thrilled to send away alone. Only because of the risk of being recognized by one of the witnesses or police officers from the failed heist that happened… weeks ago, miles away. It was just that. It wasn’t any kind of irrational residual jealousy for Tammy being alone with Nine Ball. Afterall, Daphne flirting with Tammy had been just a game, just something Daphne did because she could. But what if Nine Ball was serious? It wouldn’t mean nothing, of course, not for Debbie who didn’t have anything to do with whatever Tammy decided to do with her life and her heart. Of course not. She could send the two of them out of the house with the task of bringing new supplies for all of them and everything would be alright.

While the best hacker she had ever met was probably seducing her best friend in the world, Debbie had to find any distraction possible. And as it turned out, going along with whatever Rose’s mind came up with, was a wonderful idea.

At the moment, Debbie was smiling, her arms crossed, watching as Rose tried her very best at opening the inscrutable red door that so far none of them had been able to open up.

“You can trust me Debbie, I’ve done this _tons_ of times,” Rose assured her while she maneuvered a safety pin into the lock of the red door.

“Really? I didn’t know that about you, Rose.”

“Right. Mainly it’s been on the millions of times I’ve accidentally locked myself out of my houses or hotel rooms. But it’s worked a few times!”

“A few times,” Debbie mumbles, fondly shaking her head at the eccentric fashion designer. Then, the safety pin fell to the ground for the fifth time, “come on, Rose, get up. That's enough.” Debbie assured her, helping her up from the ground. “Lou and Constance have tried everything and they’re experts. We have to… be patient.”

“You can be patient?” Rose replied. Her teasing comment was an amusing surprise for Debbie, who replied only raising a question eyebrow. Rose laughed timidly. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be.” Debbie shook her head. “I’m glad to see you toughing up. I mean. Don’t let our company ruin you but…” Debbie shrugged, not sure how to express to Rose, without saying too much, that she should stand up for herself as fiercely as she desired, “Don’t be sorry.”

Rose nodded seriously, for a moment. Then she turned dreamily towards the strange door, “I’m really curious to see what’s on the other side… You don’t suppose it could be something dangerous, do you?”

Debbie hummed thoughtfully and leaned against said door. “No, I don’t think so…” However, the simple contact with its surface made a chill move through her body and for a moment she had the absolute certainty that something awfully dangerous was effectively behind that door. She immediately stepped away, “Why - why would you say that?”

“Right, Debbie, this house is not exactly a harmless cottage in the woods. Don’t tell me you haven’t noticed the weird things? The statues, the shadows, the… _children,_ ” Rose’s voice had turned into a murmur, “or are you going to tell me you don’t believe in ghosts.”

Debbie didn’t believe, not really. However, denying the things that Rose had so honestly pointed out, that felt like a grotesque lie that she simply couldn’t conceive. So, she stayed silent. Luckily, it seemed Rose understood.

“Why even did we come here?” Rose asked instead.

Debbie understood that she probably meant it as in why Hill House exactly. Why did they have to disappear into a haunted, forgotten house, instead of the exotic, quiet and distant destinies that every other criminal going through a rough patch in the world would have chosen. But, with her head everywhere these days, Debbie took it the wrong way.

“I don’t know, Rose. I don’t get how I let this happen,” Debbie looked down and she was shaking her head, “I planned everything and then I blinked and it was all wrong and turned against me and I put you all in danger and I can’t stop, I can’t stop thinking that, if I, that if I had only-”

“Debbie, Debbie, hey, it’s okay, it’s okay,” Rose repeated again and again with her most soothing voice as she rubbed Debbie’s arms, as if trying to put her together, to get her to stand up straight again.

“It’s not okay! It’s eating me alive… I’m sorry.”

Rose had to take a moment to weight her options. This wasn’t Debbie. This wasn’t anything at all like the Debbie Ocean she knew and loved. This would need a different approach. She looked at Debbie sternly.

“Look. Whatever explanations you have to give us? I don’t want to hear a single word until you’ve accepted that it wasn’t all your fault, okay?”

With that, Rose turned her back on Debbie and started walking away. “Where are you going?” Debbie asked her, confused.

“I forgot my new hat in my room,” Rose explained as she kept on walking.

The exchange left Debbie feeling a little perplexed. That one over there was really the woman that single-handedly convinced Cartier to let go of their most precious necklace, and did it so perfectly she wasn’t even in among the prime suspects of the crime that followed.

She was so proud of the team she had assembled. She followed Rose through the hallway and away of the locked red door without looking back once. Perhaps because of the unsettling feeling the door gave her. Perhaps because she knew that had she looked back she would have seen, through the gap at the bottom of the door, the shadow of something or someone moving _inside_ the room.

 

 

That night, dinner with the entire team started casually enough. Tammy and Nine Ball had taken the opportunity to not only bring them the provisions needed for one more week at least, they also brought pizza for that night. So it felt a lot like the usual dinners they used to have before… before.

Rose and Daphne were doing such a good job at ignoring each other after Daphne’s explosion the other day, that Debbie would have bet they were well on their path to reconciliation. Their anger had vanished and they were most likely one serious conversation away from a honeymoon.

The main subject of conversation that night was Tammy and Nine Ball’s adventure into what they were all calling “the real world”. Debbie’s decision to send both of them, despite the jealousy the she was most definitely not feeling, had been an easy one. Nine Ball was a hacker, she worked behind the scenes, hardly anybody in the country would be able to recognize her and link her to Debbie Ocean and her team on the run. Besides, there were minor hacking activities involved, like getting names, phone numbers, ways to pay things that they could have robbed but were trying to be cautious, etcetera. Tammy, was also an obvious choice for the duty. She was the fence. She was a star when it came to fooling people into believing she was someone completely different. She had accents, mannerisms, make-up, clothing, a myriad of background stories. She could be anybody she wanted.

“I swear I was starting to believe this one over here really was the owner of the store,” Nine Ball was saying right then, proving said point. “She talked with the delivery guy so easily _he_ was starting to think they were relatives.”

The group laughed comfortably with all the details of how Tammy and Nine Ball managed to go in and out of stores, picking up phones, changing numbers, using fake credit cards, twisting their stories and twisting the lives of shop owners from everywhere near Hill House.

“Sounds like you could be a great actress, if you wanted,” Daphne complimented her.

For the briefest of moments, everyone stood on edge. But Daphne’s words were sincere, not flirtatious, not anymore. Rose relaxed in her chair and everyone else breathed a collective sigh of relief.

Tammy shrugged, “Taking it as an entire lifestyle was a little bit more exciting.”

“Well one thing’s for sure,” Nine Ball added, “you are damn good at it.”

Another sincere compliment, but this came with an added weight on the hacker’s intense eyes. When Tammy met her eyes, a sigh escaped her involuntarily. She was getting lost in Nine Ball’s eyes and that wasn’t something she was prepared for. She looked down and everything about her body suggested she was trying to make herself as small as possible in that chair. Not all was lost, though. It seemed that Nine Ball knew something nobody else did. She raised her hand and in her face she wore a happy and relaxed grin. Tammy couldn’t help herself and gave the other woman the requested high-five, plus she started smiling in the same way.

It was mystifying. There was a part of Debbie that would never get over the fact that she had lost Tammy, forever. That she would never get her back and that someone else might be the one to make Tammy smile that absolutely beautiful and radiant smile of hers. However, the largest part of Debbie’s heart was just genuinely happy to see that smile, regardless of who was the person that brought it out.

“Tammy’s always been the best at what she does,” Lou added from across the table, raising her glass in mocking salute. Now that was a person that Debbie wasn’t prepared to consider in that equation…

“Are you jealous?” Tammy teased her, smiling brightly.

“Am I jealous that you have the talent to make people believe you anything? I don’t know…” Lou shrugged, “but then I remember you can make people believe you could possibly tolerate a man enough to have a husband and I don’t want that, thank you very much.”

Lou’s comment made everyone at the table laugh. They easily slipped into the comfortable family routine that they had acquired through the months of knowing each other. In a second they were all going on a tangent trying to see which of them could actually pull of the act of pretending to have a husband. Debbie’s mind went elsewhere. She felt like going underwater, like she wasn’t really hearing the stories beings shared. The anecdotes were blurring in front of her. She wasn’t listening to Rose’s hilarious story of a failed two-week marriage, or an 8 years-old Constance punching a boy, or Amita insisting she wouldn’t mind having a husband as long as he was kind. She wouldn’t know if those were real things her friends were saying. Her mind was stuck somewhere between Lou’s tone and Tammy’s smile, Lou’s smirk and Tammy’s blush. Somewhere between the years when she was in prison believing Tammy had a real husband she loved and Lou was…

Debbie stood up abruptly, interrupting the conversation and drawing all eyes to her.

“Babe, are you okay?” Lou asked her, gently grabbing her hand.

Debbie opened her mouth to reply, to let them know she was just feeling a terrible headache coming, but she couldn’t force the words out. Her own vision drifted from the concerned faces of her friends to the door of the kitchen and beyond where, in the middle of the hallway, was _Claude Becker again_ , with the same clothes of that first meeting, that same wonderstruck look in his deceiving face and the exact same gesture extending his hand towards her in greeting…

That cruel vision vanished a moment later, when Debbie blinked and jumped in surprise, because a loud knocking on the front door startled Debbie and the seven other women beyond anything they could have possibly expected. The house was abandoned, it was supposedly haunted. They had vanished, nobody on Earth knew where any of them was. And still… someone was knocking on their door in the middle of the night. Someone or something was waiting for them on the other side.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so i wasn't feeling very confident about this chapter but I kind of liked how it turned out. slamming doors, locked doors, knocking on doors.. and it gave me some good ideas for the next chapters.  
> I really hope you guys liked this chapter and let me know what you think :)  
> also if something doesn't make sense or anything tell me and I'll do my best at clearing things up. it's a little messy I know but it will explain itself as we go... i hope lol


	12. Twenty-first Century Women

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a little reminder that this happens _after_ the events on the show. _But_ Lou and Theo met _before_ the events of the show. If that makes sense.

“I know you want to protect them, but are you sure that going out ourselves alone was your best decision?” Lou asked Debbie as soon as they were far enough from the front door of Hill House, where their team anxiously waited for them to check what or who on Earth could have possibly been knocking on their door at night. The door to an abandoned, haunted house where nobody knew they lived.

“If it had been just my choice you would have stayed inside too,” Debbie replied.

Lou rolled her eyes, lightly knocked Debbie’s shoulder with her own. Not too long after meeting Debbie decades ago, Lou realized that Debbie Ocean was as much of a problem as she was a person. Debbie was stubborn, Debbie was secretive, Debbie could be infuriatingly indecisive when it came to matters of the heart. So, a lot of the times, it was up to Lou to take the decision and make sure that they stayed a team, that Debbie wouldn’t push her away, that Debbie wouldn’t risk everything all by herself. All those years had passed and they were still struggling to come to tears than they were more than a team in crime, and that the reason they stayed together was less because of how good they worked together and more because of how much they loved each other. That was one of the things they didn’t talk about.

“Alright, let’s be reasonable about this, shall we?” Debbie said as the two of them strolled around the perimeter of the house, flashlights on hands, guns on their waist. “Tell me about the owners of the house, anybody who could possibly have something to do in here, knocking the door of this abandoned house at night and then disappearing before we open.”

“Well, there’s Theo,” Lou started, and pretended she didn’t notice Debbie flinch when she heard the name. “She despised the house, and she doesn’t have her keys now. I doubt she’d come for a midnight adventure all the way here. There’s her older brother, Steven. He’s a writer, maybe he could come here looking for inspiration but he already had a book on the house as far as I know. Her older sister, Shirley, a busy mom that doesn’t acknowledge the house exists so that’s a no. The twins… Luke’s supposed to be in rehab or high as fuck somewhere else. We haven’t find drugs here so I doubt he’ll visit his childhood home. There’s her little sister then, Nell, who I don’t think Theo understood very well, that could be our best bet. Or they father, Hugh Crain, he was a little… he was a little strange. That’s what I got from Theo.”

As she spoke, Lou chuckled occasionally, smiling unconsciously, thinking of the shared moments with Theo that got her to learn all those little details. Details of the personal kind that neither of them usually shared. Being so similar, it came naturally that they let their defenses down for each other.

“Looks like you got to know her pretty well”

“Are you jealous?” Lou asked her without missing a beat.

Before answering, Debbie started walking a little faster and Lou had to rush to catch up. They were rounding the property, trying to make sure everything was in order and nobody actually knew they were living in Hill House.

“Anyway,” Debbie cleared her throat, “Do you seriously think one of them could have been knocking on our door?”

“Do you want to consider the other possible answer?”

No, neither of them really wanted to even talk about the possibility that it wasn’t a real, living, breathing, human being the one who knocked on the door.

“Do you know if any of them visited the house often? If anybody checked in regularly or anything?”

“Yes, Debbie, I brought all of us here knowing full well that it was likely we’ll get visitor who would call our good friends from the police,” Lou replied slowly, her delivery of the words was on her own personal brand of sarcasm that Debbie loved and hated depending on the day. Lou aimed her flashlight towards the depths of the woods, feeling like she must catch sight of the crazed dogs that barked and howled all night long but haven’t made themselves visible just yet. “As far as I know, no one steps foot in that house since the time their mother died there.”

Debbie stoppe in her tracks. When she turned towards Lou her flashlight came to shine directly towards the blonde’s face, who cursed and pushed Debbie's hand away.

“ _What?_ ” Debbie asked, “I’m sorry, what? A woman died there?”

“Yes. Theo’s mother killed herself in that house. Why are you so surprised? Didn’t you do your background check?”

“I was busy! Nine Ball did it and deemed it appropriate. I trusted you!”

 _I trust you blindly_ , Debbie wanted to say but stopped herself.

Lou rolled her eyes, “It’s fine. She wasn't mentally stable. Theo said-”

“Fuck Theo!” Debbie exclaimed, her hands turned to fists and barely restraining herself from throwing her arms up in the air in frustration.

“Are you jealous?” Lou asked again, laughing.

“Did you?”

“What?”

“Fuck Theo?” Debbie asked, a venomous smirk on her lips, “When did you build this little friendship of yours, Lou? Did you sleep with her? Of course you did. Did you fall for her, Lou?”

Of course Lou had those answers, and of course she wouldn’t give them away. Specially not until Debbie answered her question.

Lou walked as close as possible to Debbie without touching her and repeated her question, “Are you jealous Debbie?” she leaned her head in a little closer and felt the tension nearly suffocating them both, “why aren’t you answering me Debbie?”

Debbie finally responded, with a blazing kiss powerful enough to kick them off their feet had they not been waiting for it during the entire conversation. The give and take, the hands that came into action, the sheer reckless force of the kiss that was intoxicating them, it all felt like being on the brink of death and already resurrecting into a great forest fire.

There was nothing on Earth that could have distracted the couple from that kiss they were sharing. Debbie let her flashlight fall to the ground and easily forgot about it. None of them noticed how the light travelled through the trees and reached the spectral figure of Poppy Hill, casually leaning on one shoulder against a tree, watching with immense interest and murmuring, “ _My, my. These twenty-first century women are something else. Such a scandal,_ ” smiling devilishly.

 

 

 

While Debbie and Lou were supposed to check the ground around the house, risking exposing themselves to whoever knocked on their door, the rest of the team also had their duties. Three of them were supposed to sleep, rest while they could so they could later take the place of the other three that were keeping guard. One of them, Tammy, was standing by front door, hidden in the shadows, completely alert. Other two, Constance and Daphne, were making rounds all over the house. Amita, Rose and Nine Ball were in their beds, sleeping and waiting for their turns.

It was understandable to think that the three of them awake were having a difficult time. There was a lot of tension in the air, anything could happen. All their freedom was on the line if the police were to catch them. All their lives were also on the line if it just so happened that someone dangerous had been the one to knock. Then, of course, was the overall haunted atmosphere of the house, which was heightened by a thousand during the night.

Tammy’s job was a tough one. She had seen Debbie and Lou’s shadows walking away and her heart had whimpered in fear. She also was getting tired of seeing shadows where there weren’t, silhouettes that disappeared one second later, little kids that were just a product of her guilty imagination. She was a mother away from home and this was just her mind playing tricks on her. Just her mind, not the house.

Daphne and Constance were not having much of an easier time, but they were managing. Daphne was going for an stubborn approach, denying the ghostly shadows that were following her around, pretending they weren’t there, because how dare a simple shadow try to scare her? Constance, couldn’t decide between pretending it was fun to catch the statues of the house in different positions, or actually feeling scared for her own life. All she was hoping was to not see that horrible vision, preceded by the sound of a rope tightening around a woman’s neck…

However, there was somebody else awake. Unknown to everybody else, Rose couldn’t find it in herself to fall asleep. She couldn’t bear the thought of somebody finding them. Going to prison was one of her greatest fears and for a few weeks it seemed more possible than ever before. There was also the fact that she knew Daphne was awake, vulnerable and exposed to the dangers of that big house. Plus, since Tammy was also awake, she was alone in their room, and that didn't’ feel safe at all.

She looked around, trying to find a distraction. There were her several bags, Tammy’s orderly side of the room, a picture of Tammy’s kids on her bedside table, a the new hat she had found on her respective bedside table. She stared at the hat in amusement. It was an interesting piece of fashion, surely it could inspire her to create an equally as interesting piece. She also wondered who that hat might have belong to. As if that simple thought had served as a magnet, Rose heard footsteps in the hallway.

However, those were not exactly footsteps. Rose listened more intently and had a hard time understanding the sounds she was hearing. There was a tap on the floor, a small pause, another tap, a pause, a tap, and again. Although the sounds were slow, Rose’s heart started beating faster and faster. She soon realized the sounds were getting closer and closer, the tap on the floor made her tremble in her bed. She stared at the door of her room, wondering if she had locked it, praying to God she had. Then she saw it, the shadow from the gap under the door. It was a slim shadow, a single object, not exactly the kind of shadow a pair of shoes would make from the other side of the door. She sighed, knowing a person couldn’t project that shadow, maybe it was some sort of animal…

The doorknob rattled. Somebody was roughly trying to open the door. The horrible sound, the violence of the movement, the sight of the doorknob shaking in its place, it all stole a strangled gasp from Rose. She looked around, helpless, not knowing what to do. As it often happens in these cases, instincts took over and Rose covered herself with the thin blanket just in time for the door of her room to open. The door moved slowly, slowly, until it opened the whole way and from the light of the window Rose was able to make out a very distinct silhouette through the thin material of her blanket.

There was a man in her room. An unnaturally tall man. He was hunching a little. His arms were unnervingly long and he was holding a cane. One quick glance downward and Rose was able to confirm: his feet weren’t touching the ground. One tap on the floor, and the man moved forward. He slowly raised his cane, pushed himself forward, repeated the action, repeated it again. Soon enough he was standing in the middle of the room, beside Rose’s bed. She was under the blanket, trembling purposely, tears filling her eyes.

She watched as the man raised his other arm in front of him. Was he reaching for her? For the bedside table and the hat resting on top of it? She couldn't know. Something twisted inside of her. She was suddenly furious. Nightmare or not, she wasn’t going to tolerate a ghost terrorizing her when she was alone and vulnerable. Again, instincts took over before she had a chance to think twice of the danger she could be throwing herself in. Rose closed her eyes tightly and in an extremely quick movement she reached towards the bedside table, roughly grabbed the hat and without opening her eyes she threw it in front of her with all the force her body could muster.

There was a sharp scream stuck in her throat, waiting to be released. But when she opened her eyes and found herself alone in her bedroom, the door opened and the hat resting in the middle of the hallway, Rose had no idea how to organize her emotions. The last thing she needed was a visit from the woman that very recently broke her heart, but that was exactly what she got.

“Rose?” Daphne asked timidly, poking her head in from the doorway. “Are you okay?”

To say the rapid succession of strong emotions was overwhelming for Rose would have been an understatement. She felt like her brain couldn’t take anymore and her feelings were about to burst out of her like fireworks. Unfortunately, these weren’t joyful lights, these were violent fires and Daphne was standing right in the middle of the target.

“ _No!/_ ” Rose exclaimed, “I’m not okay!” she scrambled out of bed, “We’re fugitives, Daphne! We had to escape New York, leave our entire lives behind and come here. We’re living in a haunted house! A haunted house!” Rose threw her arms in the air. Daphne didn’t know what to do, how to react, except that her mouth had opened forming an “o” shape in surprise. Rose didn’t look exactly furious, just exasperated. “And I lost you! I lost you… the best thing that had happened to me in a long, long time. The person I’ve loved more than anybody else. A friend, someone that understood me, someone that I needed and who needed me just as much, making me feel more alive and more worthy than I’ve felt in a long time…” That was enough to bring tears to Daphne’s eyes, but Rose still has juggling with all her explosive emotions and looking a little lost. “Did you ever think about my side of the story? Ever wondered why I did what I did? I adore you, Daphne. You captivated me from the very first time I saw you. But, love wasn’t in Debbie’s plans. As if falling in love with you wasn’t enough, do you think I could have told you everything that was going on? I just…” At that point, Rose’s emotions had mellowed but then she spotted the creepy hat that was still laying on the ground and this caused her to explode one one last time. “You know? I get tired and angry too!”

Finally, Rose stormed out of her room, past Daphne, down the hall and past Tammy and Constance that politely averted their eyes.

"Women," Tammy said as she reached Daphne and shrugged, then she placed a supportive hand on her shoulder. “Go to sleep, Daphne. It’ll be okay.”

 _Would it?_ Daphne wasn’t so sure anymore. She was still standing in the hallway but Tammy walked into the bedroom that Rose had come out of and gently closed the door. With nothing else she could have done at the moment and feeling genuinely exhausted, like she might cry if she didn’t sleep soon, Daphne also walked to her bedroom. The only witnesses were the statues, in their new poses, and Constance, who had timidly stayed by the sidelines, but now that the hallway was empty she walked over to the hat Rose had thrown away. She crouched down and picked up the hat, smiling at its inadequacy in the year they were in. But, she she understood Rose’s fondness for the unique thing. Just because she could, Constance got up, put the hat on top of her head and walked over to a window at the end of the hall to see her reflection.

She laughed at first, the hat was a little too big for her. She tired to place it in many different angles but it still fell down almost to cover her eyes. In the middle of the struggle, at some point she lifted the hat from her eyes and immediately paralyzed in place. _You have to prove yourself but you can't you can't you can't can you?_ Her reflection was showing a terrified young woman, pale and with her eyes opened widely, her hands frozen holding her hat, and beside her, there was another woman, taller, older, just as pale, beautiful, with blonde hair pulled up in an interesting, old style. _Danger danger danger she put you all in danger she has to pay pay for it pay for stepping in here she did it she did it_ This woman was leaning down, with her face close to Constance, a hand pulled close to her mouth, whispering secrets at an unnaturally rapid pace in Constance ear. _Don't leave please don't leave no don't it you'll die outside they'll catch you prison prison you will all die in prison_ Her red lips were moving quickly, she was smirking through the horrors she was speaking and Constance couldn’t do anything but watch. _Let me tell you what to do where to go you have to prove yourself..._

When a minute later she took a deep breath, it was like she had been on the verge of drowning and only got to the surface with a millisecond to spare. She looked around terrified, noticing she was complete and absolutely alone. She did glance one last time at the window, and spotted a pale woman with blonde hair standing in the middle of the gloomy grounds of the house. She told herself it was fine, it was just Lou, standing still and… She also ignored that woman was wearing a dress Lou wouldn’t be caught dead in. When she rubbed her face with her hands she was surprised to feel tears coating her cheeks. Constance sighed and moved away from the window, she took off the hat but continued to hold on tightly to it. Instead of going to her shared bedroom with Nine Ball, who was now taking her place at keeping guard of the house, Constance entered Daphne and Amita’s bedroom.

“Daphne, are you asleep? Daphne?” Constance whispered, and received a whine in response, “Can I sleep with you tonight?” she asked next, and then received a groan that she took as an affirmative reply.

Perfectly content, Constance laughed and jumped into Daphne’s bed, “You’re the best big sister ever!”

A moment later she fell with a thud to the floor of the room. “Take the other bed!” Daphne yelled at her. But they were both glad to have some company that night.

 

 

The rush and the explosive reactions were over. All that was left were delicate kisses. Debbie was leaning her back against the trunk of a tree, Lou had an arm supporting her right above Debbie’s head. They were smiling, their lips chasing each other, stealing small kisses, going in and then escaping without ever getting too far away. Their minds still weren’t filled with any other emotions than what they felt for each other and no other thoughts than each other.

Lou leaned in for one more proper kiss before finally pulling away completely. But, still staying close, Lou moved one of her hands to caress Debbie’s cheek. Her eyes following the movement, and then staring at Debbie, moving through every detail of her face, memorizing, adoring, admiring every detail.

For Debbie, a part of her hated the moment. She was the experienced criminal that had made a living out of reading people’s intentions and studying future victims to take advantage of them. Now that she was on the other side, vulnerability wasn’t something she particularly enjoyed. She felt like Lou was really stealing from her with just her eyes. It would be too cliche for her to say it was her heart but, maybe it was her heart. Because another part of her, as uncomfortable as she was, was loving every second of Lou’s silent but throughout admiration. It was a thrilling experience to find herself under the stare of the Australian woman like that.

There were a few things Lou thought about saying to Debbie in that moment. Her favorite one was “ _you are the love of my life,_ ” but she was certain that would send both of them running in opposite directions. Had they even said they loved each other? She wasn’t sure. It was an undeniable fact but had they _said it?_

“You are gorgeous,” she said instead, as she stepped away from Debbie and tried to fix the collar of her shirt, button up what had been unbuttoned. “And you’ve been misbehaving, Miss Ocean.”

A few moments passed, a few charged looks were exchanged, and then Debbie spoke.

“Tell me about Theo.”

“Well that seems inappropriate in this moment, darling.”

This didn't deter Debbie, she didn’t lose an ounce of her composure.

“I want to know about her” she said softly but determined.

Lou took her time to gather her thoughts but finally accepted that she had to share something to leave this all behind her. She leaned her back on a different tree, mirroring Debbie’s stance.

“We just… met, by chance. We clicked immediately. We had the same views on relationship, really. Neither of us was looking for a relationship but…”

“You accidentally ended up in a relationship together?”

“Yes, something like that,” Lou laughed. “It was good. It was really good. She is incredibly smart. And she’s kind of a bitch.”

“I see you have a type,” it was Debbie’s turn to laugh and Lou agreed wholeheartedly.

“She is fun, interesting, surprisingly kind when she wants to be. We understood each other, we never asked for more, never asked for explanations.”

“And then you stole the keys to her childhood haunted home?”

“You know I can’t help myself.”

The couple shared a laugh. Debbie understood perfectly, but she wasn’t done yet.

“When did it happen?” she asked. 

Lou sighed, knowing there as no way to say no to Debbie when she really wanted to know something. 

“A couple years ago,” she conceded.

“While I was in prison,” Debbie added, not a question, and that earned her an affirmative nod from Lou.

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be.”

“I am sorry, Debbie,” Lou repeated as she walked closer to Debbie who looked visibly pained. “I know there’s a lot we didn’t ever discuss but I shouldn’t have.”

“No, no, please don’t say you’re sorry,” Debbie shook her head and tried to distance herself from Lou.

“Debbie, please,” Lou chased after her. “It was nothing compared to what we have.”

“I know, I know. Lou, it’s okay, seriously. Just please don’t say you’re sorry, I…” Debbie couldn’t keep talking, she tried, but she couldn’t find it in herself.

All she knew was that she couldn’t stand the idea of Lou saying she was sorry for something that Debbie did in a way that was much worse. Maybe Lou dated a few people while Debbie was in prison and they weren’t exactly a couple, that was understandable. What would Lou say if she knew that Debbie not only worked with Claude Becker, but also dated him the whole time. What would Lou say if she knew the reason Debbie distanced herself from her wasn’t because of the work with Claude but because of her relationship with him.

“Tell me about Tammy.”

“What?” Debbie snapped out of her thoughts.

“Hey I confessed my sins now it’s your turn.”

Lou smirked and Debbie loved how she looked al smug and confident, but she also loved to take Lou by surprise.

“These are not sins,” Debbie smiled and rolled her eyes, “But was that all you had to confess? Are you _sure_ you want to talk about Tammy?”

Effectively, Lou seemed thrown off for a moment, but to her credit she recovered quickly and gave a firm nod in Debbie’s direction. “Yes, I do.” this rendered Debbie silent, “I know you two were together Debbie, I’ve always known. But I need to know more, there’s... something, something that I know is important and none of you wants to tell me.”

“You asked Tammy?”

“ _Debbie._ ”

The brunette sighed and moved her hand to pinch the bridge of her nose with her thumb and forefinger in frustration. “Can’t you just trust me when I tell you it’s best if you don’t know?”

“You are the least trustworthy person I’ve met, Debbie, and I…” _no, no, not a good time to say I love you, not right now_ , “I care.”

Before answering, Debbie started walking back to the house. If nothing and no one had caught them yet… actually she had a hard time in that moment remembering why they came out of the house in the first place. Being outside of those walls had been strangely refreshing. Being away from the house at night made her feel like… someone different, or maybe just more like _herself_ again. She couldn’t really describe it, her mind was too busy for that and Lou’s steps following her seemed almost deafening.

“We’ve known each other almost our entire lives, Tammy and I. It was almost obvious we would fall in love.” Debbie made a pause. Her intention had been to fly through the story with as little detail as possible to get it over with, but the emotion in her voice betrayed her. Before she knew it her mind was in a completely different place, travelling through the memories. “Some time passed and I… I adored her, you know? I really loved her so much. She was everything to me back then. It was perfect. She was… I mean…”

“I get it,” Lou added softly, to help Debbie. Who wouldn’t, given the chance, give their entire heart to Tammy?

“It was too perfect to me,” Debbie shrugged and looked down. It was one of the very few times when Lou caught Debbie feeling a mixture of things like regret, shame and guilt. “Years passed. And then it changed. It changes. Nobody’s fault." Debbie shrugged, clearly not believing her last statement. "Tammy started asking for more, things I couldn’t, didn’t want to give her. Stability, family, a back up plan, the whole package. She got tired of me, I got distracted and before we knew it our relationship was one big argument with little to salvage from.”

“When did it end?” Lou asked, but Debbie was clearly reluctant to give away the last detail. “Debbie. When… Why-”

“When I met you!” Debbie exclaimed, her fight lost. “It all ended the second I laid eyes on _you_.”

Truthfully, Lou wasn’t exactly expecting that answer. But her mind started running, putting things together, figuring it all out at the same time that Debbie continued with her explanation.

“I lied, when I told I was single. I lied, when I told Tammy there was nothing between us. But, she’s Tammy, of course she figured it out, of course she had to be the one to figure _me_ out… It wasn’t an easy break up at all.”

At that point, Debbie looked clearly upset, but for the life of her, she couldn’t decipher the expression on Lou’s face.

“Lou?” she asked somewhat timidly and searched Lou’s eyes as she stopped walking and the other woman stopped right beside her, “You have to understand why I can’t say I regret it.”

As it sometimes happened, Lou turned her back on Debbie in the middle of the argument and tried to walk away, but Debbie quickly caught up.

When they were face to face again Lou simply asked “Did you cheat on her with me?”

“The details don’t matter.”

“I bet they mattered to Tammy,” Lou grumbled.

She didn’t walk away again, but she did turn her head to the side to avoid Debbie’s eyes.

“Do they matter to you?” Debbie stepped closer, “Lou? Can you look at me?” Debbie met Lou’s silence by stretching her hand out to tenderly hold Lou’s face, her thumb slowly caressing her cheek, “Please, love, can you look at me?”

Lou finally yielded and when they locked eyes Debbie was relieved to see that there wasn’t anger, hate or disgust in her ocean blue eyes. There was a little bit of that familiar guit, some doubts, but mostly it was the very strong emotion they shared but haven’t named yet.

“Do you want to ask _me_ about Tammy?” Lou asked, breaking the silence.

Her words completely threw Debbie off. She hadn’t yet figured out that interesting bad habit they shared. _I don’t want to be upset with you when there’s so many reasons why you should be angry at me. I am terrified of being in a place too good for us, let’s ruin things a little. I can’t imagine telling you how I really feel, here’s a distraction._

“No,” Debbie replied firmly, then she quickly leaned in, placed a kiss on Lou’s check and grabbing her hand she started leading them back to the house, not giving Lou even a chance to complain. Neither of them wanted to complain, though.

Regardless of the state of their heart, physically they were still in one piece and they didn’t find any threats outside. Their friend could keep watch over the house for a little while. Their turn would come in soon, but first, they deserved to just fall asleep holding each other for a few hours.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was... longer, i think? Might have something to do with the fact that I probably won't update too soon (I spent a little too much time on this and i shouldn't lol) but don't worry I have no self control so I'll be back soon!
> 
> I still want to add a little more angst and romance. I just get a little distracted by the spooky side of things.
> 
> Btw in case you guys don't know I posted a fun and fluffy one shot called Do you wanna play a game? so you can read that if you want! Also if you haven't you should read my other fics too :)
> 
> That's it for now! I really hope you guys like it, let me know what you think and thanks for reading!! (Seriously I love you all for reading)


	13. There Was Nothing There

There’s something appealing as well as something unattractive in the contrast there is between the multitude of expensive, brand new makeup products on top of the worn down and dusty, old vanity table. Daphne’s makeup products, on top of a small but charming vanity table that caught her eyes from the first time she saw her. It was noticeable old and needed to get some work done, but it had nice details, a drawer and three mirrors that she very much needed if she wanted to feel remotely comfortable in that house.

Daphne realized on the first day in Hill House that she would need more space for her things than she got on her shared room with Amita. Not that she was complaining against the idea of a roommate, since that house was so disturbing. But she had set out on a mission and she had finally found a perfect room where to set her fashion headquarters. A place only hers, where nobody could interrupt her. It was small, on one side she had the vanity table, a chair, all her makeup and behind her was a rack full of clothes that couldn’t stand to be folded among the rest. The square room had only one rectangular window on one wall, right across from the door.

“I’m at the peak of my career,” Daphne smiled at the mirror in front of her for an instant, but immediately frowned and shook her head, “No, no, I’m not. I’m still raising. Always rising. You know who’s career is at its peak? _Penelope Stern_. It’s downhill from now, kid.”

The famous actress laughed as she continued with her complex makeup routine that she did those days mostly out of entertainment.

“I might be out of the public eye for a while, but I still have a movie coming out in the meantime.” she continued to rant, switching between products, moving her face closer to the mirrors. “What does Penelope Stern have? Her cute little TV show?” she laughed again.

“Plus, I have my friends now. I have my friends here with me.” Daphne smiled sincerely as she settled her lipstick on the table. “No more dreadful book clubs,” she rolled her eyes.

She made a pause in her speech as she finished with her lips. Once satisfied with her job there she continued. “Yes, I admit I can still feel a little lonely… in that department. But it’s whatever. I wanted, needed friends, and I got my friends. I am happy.” she placed a different product a little roughly on the table to accentuate her point.

“It’s _different_ ,” Daphne scoffed, “I am still hurt! And now she’s hurt! Which I don’t… completely understand,” she made a pause, looked upwards with a thoughtful expression and tapped her nails twice on her chin, “I suppose she has a point but… I fell for her. And she let me. Knowing that she was just using me as a part of Debbie’s plan. Not a heads up, not a clue, nothing. How can I just trust her after that? Where’s the honesty?” Daphne’s voice was uncharacteristically soft and vulnerable. “I can’t make friends easily, let alone keep a relationship. Then I find Rose… “

“ _And she lied to you, didn’t she?_ ” a different voice was finally heard filling up the room. “ _She just used you, dear. Like the dainty doll you are. You were just a piece of the puzzle. A puzzle piece. And she was just doing her job. Everything she said and everything she did and even everything she was, that was just a way to get you to do what she wanted and needed. Every compliment, every hug… even the_ kisses.”

Poppy Hill threw her head back in a delighted laugh. She was standing behind Daphne, they were seeing each other from the reflection in the mirror. She was cheerful, even though the venom in her words and eyes was palpable. Daphne was sitting very tense, her knuckles white from how hard she was gripping the edges of the table, she was completely silent.

“ _You are overthinking every interaction with your girl, aren’t you, doll? Of course you are. Was she ever your girl? Was she ever sincere? And did you even got to know her? I wonder, did you know who you fell in love with? Did you ever love her? Or did you just never wanted to be alone?_ Daphne?” 

“Stop.” Daphne begged with a strained voice.

The other, ghostly woman sighed and started pacing the room, her hand grazing the dresses hanging from the rack. “ _You know, I have loved. I have loved before. I loved my husband, and I loved my little son, and my little daughter, I loved them a little too much. My husband and I met… at a very… magical place. Maybe you should go there._ ” Poppy laughed as if she had just said the most amusing thing in the world. “Some days I didn’t know who he was. Most days he wasn’t sure who I was. It’s fine as long as we stay in the house, you know? Because if I go outside…” Poppy walked closer to whisper to Daphne’s ear, “ _If I go outside, the police will catch me. They will catch me and my friends will not save me. And my love will not save me. And I won’t be able to save them. We will got to prison. We will be poor and sad and tortured forever and ever and the prison will eat us alive…_ ”

“Stop!” Daphne yelled.

In one quick movement she picked up one of her lipsticks and with it she hit the mirror in the middle of the vanity table. The image of the 1920s looking woman shattered along with the glass. Daphne used both hands to grab as many products as they could fit and turned around, throwing them at the woman that was no longer standing behind her, no longer in the room at all. 

While the makeup products rolled around the floor, its contents spilling, Daphne worked hard on regaining her composure. Her breathing was ragged, she roughly wiped a single tear that had escaped her eye and flipped her hair back.

“No fucking ghost can scare me,” she declared to the empty room as she continued to fix her hair in her very particular way.

Very calmly she turned back around, slowly sat down in her chair and stared at the broken mirror in front of her. Just then she broke down crying. Tears and sobs escaping her without any of her control.

 

 

 

“Are you sure this is necessary?” Lou asked.

She was standing in front of a fireplace of the house. She had her arms crossed on her chest and an displeased look on her face. She turned towards Nine Ball, but the hacker only sent her a meaningful look as answer. That said it all.

“What even can get to the house from the chimney? Rats? I haven’t seen any bats and I’m sure we can handle a few moths,” Lou insisted, dreading more than anything the idea of standing in there. “Can I at least see whatever it is you got on video?”

Nine Ball rolled her eyes and leaned in a little closer, “Look, it’s kind of a situation like what happened in the basement, remember? Just trust me on this.”

“You were the skeptic one.”

Nine Ball shrugged. Lou’s tone wasn’t mean or judgemental. She wasn’t making fun of her either. If anything, by the way she avoided Nine Ball’s eyes, she was just worried. As if to say “you were the skeptic and now you’re worried? How are the rest even sleeping at night?”

“Just go get Constance to help you. Stop complaining.”

“What? You’re not helping?” Lou asked, not sounding so casual anymore.

She watched the hacker flop down on one of the couches and ignore the question. That wouldn’t stay like that, Lou swore to herself, but started walking away in search of the youngest member of their team.

Now on her own, Nine Ball couldn’t help but pick up her camera and press play on the video again. The thing is, while Constance had been staying downstairs to avoid stairs in order to heal her foot, she complained constantly about weird sounds coming from chimney. Scratching sounds. Irregular sounds. The group agreed they were rats and nothing else probably. But, Nine Ball noticed how Amita tensed, how a chill went through her. She wasn’t disgusted by the idea of rats. She was scared by the possibility of something else trapped in the chimney. So, of course Nine Ball took the chance to prove that it was just rats or something alike, not any kind of the silly ghosts they were supposedly living with.

She sighed, however, because the video showed something unmistakeable. No matter how many times she played it, it was the same thing. The audio of course caught the scratching sounds. It had to be rats, maybe bats. It had to be an animal, what else if not. Except that after a while, around 3am, something truly horrifying happened. If you were speeding the video you could have missed it as just a blur. But Nine Ball had replayed it enough times to have memorized exactly when to pause and even slow down the recording. And then, there it was. It was a very small thing coming out of the chimney, still could have passed as just a small animal. Except that there was another, another, and another. Those were claws. Five on one side. Then five more. Those were hands. Skeletal, crooked hands that on their own would have been more than scary enough, however, soon enough a head showed. It was like gravity had been twisted upside down and instead of someone coming down from a chimney, it was somebody crawling out of a well or hole on the ground. The head was bald, disturbing, the eyes a little too big, everything about it a little too dead. That grotesque corpse groaned and extended an arm towards the camera.

The image blurred and a second later there was nothing there. Not even the scratching noise.

Nine Ball sighed, turned off the video and further slumped on the couch. There was no logical explanation around this kind of things. She closed her eyes, thought about the book she was reading. The Haunting of Hill House… that was fiction. Fiction. Fiction. Nothing but fiction. Without thinking twice about it, she deleted the video. It was best if no one else saw it.

 

 

 

Debbie was once again standing in front of the unsettling red door that nobody had managed to open since they arrived at the house. More than a handful of tools were laying at her feet and her best friend was currently kneeling down, putting them back into their respective toolbox.

“So, you’re giving up?” Debbie asked, more to annoy Tammy than to confirm the facts.

The other woman sighed deeply. “It’s useless, Debbie. That,” she gestured in front of them, “is not a normal door. It might be fake, I don’t know but it’s impossible to get in.”

“It can’t be! There’s literally a window we can see from outside. I swear I even saw someone…”

While she had started forcefully, the last of Debbie’s words had turned into nothing but a whisper.

“What did you say?” Tammy asked her.

Debbie stayed silent and simply watched as Tammy got up and dusted off her pants.

“I talked to Lou. I told her about us.” Debbie’s words made Tammy stop her movements suddenly.

“I really would have preferred you didn’t do that,” Tammy insisted, shaking her head, “why did you do it?”

“She wanted to know” Debbie shrugged halfheartedly, the way that infuriated Tammy, “And I am guessing you already knew that.”

“That story, our story, only makes me look pathetic and makes you look like a terrible person, which isn’t too far from the truth but… I don’t want her to pity me.” Tammy mumbled the last sentence, but the other woman could hear it clearly.

“Lou wouldn’t. Besides, she deserved to know.”

“Oh? So you’ve told Lou _everything_ she deserves to know?”

The implication of Tammy’s words hung heavy in the air around them, but Debbie didn’t show how badly the accusation had or hadn't affected her. Either way, her silence was enough answer for Tammy, who turned and made an attempt to walk away, but just in time Debbie reached out quickly and gently grabbed one of her hands and pulled her back. As hard as her mind fought it, Tammy allowed for it all to happen.

“You care about her,” was the unexpected combination of words that finally made it out of Debbie’s mouth when she had Tammy close to her again. But the other woman didn’t answer. Didn’t know what to answer. “I care about you, you know that, right? More than you can imagine, Tammy.”

“We were so good together,” Tammy laughed, but the timid sound was bittersweet, “I want to move on, I do… I just, I think I still have… questions…”

“Talk to me,” Debbie asked sincerely, but Tammy avoided her eyes.

“Not here. I feel like… I feel like we are being listened. Observed. Like we are never alone in this house.”

Tammy shivered. When she looked up she saw the genuine concern in Debbie’s eyes and she felt her heart complain at the sight. It would have been so easy to yield, to look down, to fall in Debbie’s arms and just let herself be held. It had happened so many times before, why not let herself lose once more?

Because she swore she wouldn’t lose herself to Debbie ever again, Tammy reminded herself. Because it looked like Debbie was finally making a serious attempt at faithfulness and it wasn’t for her, it was for Lou. Because Tammy really did care about Lou. Because the least Tammy owed herself was the right to denying Debbie the privilege of seeing her vulnerable again. In fact… all these years must have taught her a little on how to stand her ground to Debbie, how to fight back.

She deliberately took Debbie’s other hand and smiled tenderly, even if her eyes were reflecting the mischief she so many times found in the other woman’s eyes through the years whenever she had a heist coming up.

“Debbie, just so you know, you’re going to have to try a little harder to mend your past mistakes.”

Confidently, Tammy leaned in and kissed her cheek, close enough to her mouth to steal Debbie’s breath away. 

While she watched her best friend walk away, Debbie smiled. Maybe Tammy knew her better than anybody else, but she knew her just as well. She could tell that the kiss was not meaningless for Tammy at all, she had been just as affected. She could tell that Tammy was really trying to move on. She was certain Tammy would never intentionally hurt her, or Lou for that matter. But, she also took a mental note of the fact that, against her plans, Tammy had walked away of the conversation without sharing something, anything really, about her and Lou, which was what originally Debbie had intended to do.

This time, against her better judgement, before walking away Debbie looked behind her one last time at the red door. Tammy had not been wrong on her feelings. The was a shadow inside that room, Debbie could see it moving from the crack underneath the door. She hurriedly walked away, not without the feeling of being followed, not looking back again, not without swearing to herself to see what was hiding inside the red room even if it was the last thing she did.

 

 

 

“Where’s everyone else?” Rose asked when she sat down at the kitchen table.

Constance and Amita looked up from Amita’s phone and shrugged.

“I actually saw Tammy and Nine Ball go out for a walk,” Amita said, a teasing tone in her voice.

“Moms are probably together,” Constance added, “so let’s not wonder what they’re up to.”

She shared a laugh with Amita, but the woman across the table wasn’t as amused, her mind was somewhere else.

“I haven’t seen Daphne in a while...”

Rose’s words came accompanied by a heavy sigh. Her two friends exchanged a look. The fashion designer was clearly in the middle of a “I got tired of you being upset with me, so now I’m upset with now, and now we don’t know what to do” phase with the actress the had stolen her heart. To be fair nobody knew exactly what to do with them. It was clear they were meant to be together. It was unclear if they could work out their problems anytime soon.

“I’ll go make us some tea,” Amita announced, hoping to relieve the uncomfortable moment.

Constance entertain herself for a moment drumming her fingers on the table, but then she tried her luck at distracting Rose from her troubled love life.

“Hey, Rose,” she called her, “you don’t mind that I picked up your hat, do you?”

Constance nodded towards the black bowler hat that was resting on the table beside her. She had picked it up that night Rose threw it out of her room, and regardless of the frightening feeling it gave her at first, she decided to keep it close.

“No, no, no,” Rose shook her head purposefully, messing with her already messy hair a little, “I’m okay. I actually think that thing is quite creepy, don’t you think?”

“Yeah!” Amita intervened then, coming back to the table, “seriously Constance why would you want that hat?”

“What?!” Constance replied, faking outrage, “you don’t like my new vibe?” she placed one of her palms on her chest, to her heart, in a dramatic stance.

The youngest woman was always extremely happy to make her friends laugh, especially when she knew they needed it. Her next move was to actually grab the strange hat and put it on. It really was completely out of place when compared to the rest of the woman’s closet, and her entire personality. It worked, to some extent. Amita and Rose were laughed at her, distracted momentariously from the troubles of relationships and of living in that awful house.

However, one second Constance was delighted by their laughs, putting on the hat, and the next second the hat was in her head, and their laughs were far, far, away, as if she had suddenly gone underwater. Her surroundings became blurry and she felt she couldn’t trust her senses. She could almost swear there was somebody whispering at her ear again, but if someone was, surely her friends would react, would scream, something.

It is universally known that if you stay underwater too long you’ll drown. That’s exactly what Constance was feeling. There was a spell over her and her lungs were fighting for a little air. The whispers from an invisible stranger were planting words and ideas in the back of her mind. The whispers were turning into invisible hands wrapping around her throat. When her eyes started to water and her friends were less than a second away from figuring out there was something wrong going on, the spell broke.

Constance’s eyes found a spot between Rose and Amita, something important behind them, one of kitchen walls, and whatever force had been torturing her, finally left her alone. The deed was done.

“I wonder if I can fit inside that small elevator thing on the wall,” she said, in a voice that her friends noted was unlike her, but they didn’t get to figure out something terrible was going on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally an update!  
> I don't think I have a lot planned for the next chapter so... if there's anything you'd like to see... from the show, or more romance, or more explanations, or these lesbians actually fixing some of their problems?? remind me anything from the show that you guys would like to read here please lol  
> Anyway, thank you soo much for reading! I hope everyone liked it. Please tell me what you think :)


	14. (Don't) Get Comfortable

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i think you guys should know that i have no idea what i'm doing lol i'm just improvising everything here. I'm not sure how this chapter happened but it's here! I hope you like it

Debbie feared vulnerability. She had made a living out of taking advantage of vulnerable people or situations, stealing from them in plain sight, but she had always been perfectly disguised. Debbie always wore a mask, sometimes literally, but mostly it was like a child’s game. She pretended she was someone else, pretended she did things for reasons that weren’t true, pretended she was innocent, truthful, alright, pretended to be a millions things she was not. Not everything was about work, though. Not everything was about putting on a wig and speaking german, putting on a different wig and acting like she worked in places she was visiting just to steal from them. A lot of times, she had to lie and say, _yes, dad, I would like to play a small role in your next heist_ , or _yes, Danny, I will work for you just this one time_ , or _yes, Claude, I trust you completely_ , and a lot of times it was a _yes, we are just friends_ , _we were just friends_ , or _we will be just friends_. All those years working for her father and brother all Debbie wanted was to be free. They didn’t have to die to concede her that, but she couldn’t really tell them that now.

Debbie also feared Lou Miller, even though she would never say so. She was scared, because Lou made her feel vulnerable, because with Lou either they both wore mask or neither of them did, because with Lou she was free. Although all those things could be marvelous, they also meant relinquishing a lot of the control she longed to have over every part of her life. She didn’t want to lose control, yet she knew she couldn’t control herself when Lou was involved. Plus, the worst part wasn’t even the unknown of those wonderful things, it was the risk of losing them, the risk of losing Lou. Because it wasn’t just about how Lou made her feel. For the first time it wasn’t all about her. It was also about what Lou felt. And the idea of hurting Lou in any way pained Debbie more than she could describe.

It wasn’t time to think about that, Debbie reminded herself. They all had been working on the house for about a week and a half so she agreed they could finish early on Wednesday so that everyone could relax a little. When the moment came, she felt anything but relaxed. Her head felt like it was collapsing on itself, like her brain was falling into a dark void and tugging at her temples, eliciting a horrible headache. She was again starting to see things that weren’t there, shadows, pieces of furniture, hearing voices that were long gone, a man, a woman, five children. To further prove her previous point, Lou had asked her to go out of the house for a while and despite her growing headache Debbie had agreed. However, as soon as she stepped out of the house and with every minute that passed, her pain was miraculously dimming. 

Just like that, the moment was now about the way Lou felt. Lou’s arms wrapped around her, the two of them laying on the ground, Debbie’s back resting on Lou’s chest, and Lou propped against a tree. Lou’s steady heartbeat and soothing breathing behind her, Lou’s voice “Are you feeling any better?”

“I am,” Debbie answered softly, her eyes closed, “except, I didn’t tell you I wasn’t feeling well.”

“No need to tell me,” Lou whispered and placed a delicate kiss on Debbie’s temple.

The brunette groaned in faked annoyance. Her resistance to fear, love, and the fear of love, would have been much easier if Lou wasn’t so goddamned perfect to her, perfect for her, perfect in general.

“Relax, Debbie,” Lou insisted, tightening for a moment her hold on Debbie, “You needed to get out of the house and breathe for a moment. The children will be fine.”

“Stop calling them children,” Debbie tried to sound serious, but Lou’s chuckle was contagious. “You think they will be though?” Debbie retorted, “any of them getting hurt is not part of my plan.”

This time when Lou held tighter to Debbie, it was a little less affectionate, she made a move so that Debbie tilted to her side and they could look each other eye to eye. “You have _a plan?_ ” Lou asked her. This was a somewhat delicate subject for the couple, it had been a point of conflict through the years and it remained unsolved. The thing is, Lou knew, that Debbie wouldn't just have “a plan”, but that plan came with several other deviations and back roads that often remained in the dark until the very last moment. Debbie always surprised her team, took Tammy by surprise, and in the end even pulled a few things off even without Lou’s previous knowledge.

She knew she shouldn’t have expected an answer, or an honest one, but she couldn’t help but frown when Debbie only laughed lightly and shook her head no. However, Debbie was smiling, and she looked so beautiful. Her eyes were sparkling, but it was more than the usual spark of mischief natural of her, it was a little more honest, ir was a little more blissful, it was unlike anything Lou had ever seen. She wasn’t sure if her lover’s answer had been genuine, but when she tried to question her further her words died in her throat, defeated by a much powerful emotion.

Debbie, of course, took advantage of the moment of hesitation from her partner, plus the new position in which she found herself while still in Lou’s arms and twisted her body a little so that she could reach out and start kissing the side of Lou’s face, down her jawline, and before she reached her lips, she whispered “Thank you.”

This took Lou by surprise, she had closed her eyes the moment Debbie’s lips met her skin, but now she opened and stared at the woman in her arms with confusion written in her face, “What? What did you said?” she asked.

“Oh I won’t repeat it,” Debbie stated, turning her back on Lou and resuming her position lying comfortably against her. “You know know what I said. I guess you were right, I needed to leave the house for a bit. Who knows what’s going on in there and… is this ring mine?”

Debbie had been holding Lou’s hand, playing with the rings on her fingers to distract herself from her moment of vulnerability when she realized how one of them was actually hers. She felt Lou shrug behind her, “You weren’t using it.”

“Why are you even wearing rings in the first place? You do realize we’re staying in this damned house for an indefinite amount of time and no one’s going to judge you for dressing casual for once? You can get comfortable.”

“I am comfortable!”

“You packed your leather pants…”

Debbie’s argument was interrupted by a squeal she was forced to let out when Lou pinched her side as revenge for her criticism. Their moment was so precious, their love was a shelter, and they were blinded to the horrors happening near them. The spirits that lived in the house, that crowded the woods around it, they had all come forward as the sun started to set. Some of them, old women, little boys, a mad woman, stopped by and stared at the couple lost in each other, unnoticed. Eventually they all headed forward, back to Hill House for the night.

 

 

 

Rose had been lost in her latest jar on Nutella for a few minutes. She was sitting near the bottom of the main stairs of Hill House, feeling quite troubled. Her mission of finding answers at the bottom of the Nutella jar was interrupted by Amita walking up to her.

“Hey Rose, are you okay?” her friend asked with a sympathetic frown on her face.

The fashion designer shrugged, “Not very.”

“Would you like to talk?”

Not exactly needing the obvious answer, Amita took a seat on the stairs beside Rose, placed a comforting hand on her back and listened as the woman finally let her feelings out.

“I’m thinking maybe I shouldn’t have tried to argue with Daphne, I shouldn’t have tell her how I felt. I mean, we were already in a bad place and I just went and made it worse. Who am I, trying to demand something from her? I’m the one who hurt her in the first place. She deserves better…”

“ _Rose_ ,” Amita interrupted her, trying to steer her away from that self deprecating train of thought.

“Right. I just… we’re both angry, neither of us is trying anymore… it feels like we lost something, you know?”

Rose stared at her good friend with sincerity and fear overflowing her eyes, she felt vulnerable and a little lost. However, she felt a chill run through her body when she looked up to stare at Amita. The woman’s eyes looked… wrong. Despite the avalanche of emotions Rose had just thrown at her, Amita looked impassive, her eyes seemed dull but not completely lifeless. She smiled then, and it made everything worse. It was the most hollow expression Rose had ever seen. It terrified her for a moment. She realized Amita had started to nod in understanding, agreement, or simply automatically. What the woman did next was to simply stand up and start walking up the stairs. Not a single word of support, not a single word at all. The encounter was of the strangest kind and Rose couldn’t just let it pass like that. She also stood up from the stairs and stared at the retreating form of her friend and called out to her.

“Amita?”

“ _Yeah?_ ”

The causal answer made Rose jump in fright. The voice, absolutely Amita’s voice, wasn’t coming from up the stairs, it came from somewhere behind her. Rose looked around hurriedly. The kitchen. She ran in that direction and when she caught sight of Amita standing in the middle of the kitchen she had to suppress a scream. Although she clutched the jar of Nutella tighter to her chest, she let the spoon fall to the ground. She was to scared to turn around and run back to see who or what was on the stairs. Instead she focused on Amita, this Amita, her expressive eyes, her small frown, the warmth and the alert attitude.

“Hey Rose, are you okay?” Amita asked, it felt like an echo and it made Rose shudder, she closed her eyes and leaned against the wall, speechless. Amita tried again, “I’m working on dinner right now, want to help?” her kind words were soothing, but the next one, that Rose had heard just a minute ago, somehow were terrifying, “Would you like to talk?”

 

 

 

Daphne wasn’t exactly over the moon at being dragged into Nine Ball and Constance’s ghost busting adventures, but she was avoiding Rose, she was banned from the kitchen, she probably shouldn’t spy on Debbie and Lou, and she really didn’t feel like being alone in that big and scary house.

“This is dumb,” Daphne said, “this is dumb,” she repeated, “this is _so_ dumb.”

“Stop it!” Nine Ball scolded, taking the rope from her, “you don’t have to help, princess, we got it.”

Daphne scoffed, but then she smirked, “Don’t be shy, you know you need me,” she exuded confidence, but when she tried to grab a bell from Constance, the metal object fell down to the floor with a loud and annoying clatter.

“Smooth,” Constance teased her. but Daphne flipped her off and focused on Nine Ball again.

“Remind me again what we’re doing?” she requested with a small and perfectly executed pout.

The hacker barely glanced at her, but when she spoke there was a small smile on her lips, so Daphne counted it as a win. “A bunch of you have been saying these statues move, right?”

Constance nodded enthusiastically, “I swear one slapped my butt this morning”, she stated and received a similar slap on the back of her head from Nine Ball, who continued with her explanation.

“Well, I got these dozen bells and we’re going to tie them to the statues," Nine Ball explained, skipping over the part about receiving secret packages for herself the day she went to town with Tammy. "If these ladies move, we’ll know.”

Did Nine Ball winked at her? Daphne wondered. Did she just blink? That looked like a wink, didn’t it? But in addition to that, she mentioned a very unsettling thing Daphne had experienced herself, finding the statues in what she swore were new positions. The combination of all that turned her suddenly silent, which apparently was such a rarity that it caught Nine Ball’s attention.

“You okay over there?” the hacker asked.

“Yeah, sure,”

Her concern was sweet, and it soothed Daphne a little, but she definitely heard Constance scoff. “This house’s pentagon of love is so annoying.”

“Dude, there’s eight of us here,” Nine Ball argued.

The younger woman waved her off, “I don’t know roman numbers.”

“You’re so-”

Nine Ball was suddenly cut off by the sound of the bells ringing. They had been working on it for a while now, they were almost done. The statues on one hallway of the second floor were done, they were working on the ones at the start of the other hall, with the space of the main stairs of the house separating both pairs of statues. When the three of them turned to stare at the statues, the noise suddenly stopped. They exchanged a look and slowly but surely moved towards the statues.

“Maybe it was the wind?” Daphne suggested while Nine Ball examined the mess of bells and ropes tied to the statue’s hands. She received a negative shake of head in response.

“That would have been a hurricane standing for a second on this hallway?” Constance commented, but before Daphne could respond, the sounds came back, even stronger, so much so that when they looked to the pair of statues they had left behind, the bells were laying limply on the floor. “Fuck…” Constance whispered.

WIthout hesitation, Nine Ball ran towards that place, but halfway through, right between two hallways, with the grand staircase behind her, Daphne caught up to her, grabbed her arm and stopped her. Nine Ball was about to snap at her but when she actually turned around and caught the terror on Daphne and Constance’s faces, she understood that the sounds were coming from both sides. All the bells they hund from the statues were shaking up uncontrollably. It was deafening. It was terrifying.

Constance had still been holding on to a bell when she ran away form the statues. Standing there, huddled with her two friends, she started feeling the bell tremble in her hand. Nothing was moving it, but still the bell started to shake and shake until Constance had to throw it away with all the force she could muster.

The three of them were frozen in place. The bells were ringing nonstop. The three friends could feel their hearts beat faster than ever, they started to sweat. They wanted to cry and scream but they didn’t dare. They could see the bells shaking in the hands of the seemingly still statues. Those were wild movements and the sounds were frightening. It was chaotic and it worsened so much that when they had been holding each other they had to move their hands to try and cover their ears.

Finally. Suddenly. The noise stopped. All the bells tied to their ropes simply fell down to ground. It was a mess laying at the feet of the unchanged statues, but Daphne, Nine Ball and Constance could barely breathe.

 

 

 

“You’re a great listener,” Tammy said with a smile.

She was sitting on the grass, somewhere behind Hill House, knowing Debbie and Lou were somewhere at the front and the rest of their friends were still inside. In front of her, her phone was lying on the ground, showing a picture of her two kids.

“I think it all comes down to the point that I _really_ miss them. I stopped working with Debbie even before, but I kept working here and there. When they were born, that’s when I did quit all my jobs. They took over my entire life… I loved it,” Tammy smiled again at her listener and then turned to stare at sky thoughtfully. Traces of the sunset were still visible, but if she really focused she could spot a few stars. “I didn’t mind staying at home, I loved them too much I didn’t want anything else. When we needed money I knew how to get it easily. But that’s the thing with people like us, we don’t really do it for the money, it’s just… it’s what we do.”

“It’s what we are, you know? We love to deceive, love to steal, to cheat, to be part of complicated plans and to stand on the very edge of getting caught… It’s a passion, but it comes with a price.” Tammy wore a playful smile, then she shrugged, “For me, it’s the chance to be a thousand different people, but then some people don’t recognize, or don’t love me for who I really am. For Debbie, it’s a family thing, it’s in her blood and she’s the best at what she does, but at the price of never doing anything else, never wanting, needing, or earning anything, anyone else. Lou… she’s a serial rule breaker, she does it for the sake of it, for spite, because she’s good at it, also because she would follow Debbie anywhere, but at the expense of letting Debbie trace her plan without her. Constance is good, and she has fun, but this is addictive, and I’m afraid she’ll be incapable of ever finding any real stability… I - I’m sorry, I’ve said too much, I got carried away, you probably don’t want to hear any of this.”

Tammy laughed sincerely, feeling more at peace than she had done in a while. She reached forward and picked up her phone. She stared at a few more pictures of her kids and when she felt her eyes start to fill with tears she put her phone down again.

“You know what you tell me about this house being scary? How it is dangerous, how it feels unsafe, but also how it kind of… calls you? I can feel that,” Tammy nodded, now staring at Hill House, “I can definitely feel that. Sometimes I feel like I never want to leave that house, or a certainty that I will never leave it at all… I’m scared too,” she had to stop briefly to wipe a tear that escape on her eyes, but then she chuckled, “Please don’t laugh at me. People say I’m emotional but they just underestimate me… They compare me to Debbie who is this seemingly emotionless leader and I am just an overprotective mother... I’ve seen Debbie cry, you know? I could do it again, make her cry, if I really wanted to...” For a brief moment, Tammy’s eyes gained a fiery spark in them, but after letting out a sigh, she stood up and looked completely normal. “But I kind of still love her,” she shrugged one last time. “Not romanctically. No. I swear. Just.. don’t tell anybody I said that.”

She picked up her phone, dusted off her pants and looked at the little girl beside her. Abigail was wearing a pale blue dress, her blonde hair was in perfect shape and she was staring at Tammy curiously with her big blue eyes.

“You remind me a little of my own kids,” Tammy smiled at her one last time. “you say you live in these woods with your mom and dad right? Are you sure you can you get home by yourself?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> there it is!  
> was this one spooky enough? i hope it was good. please tell me what you think.  
> i enjoy this so much so i will keep writing for sure. but please send me thoughts, ideas, what you'd like to see from the show, whatever   
> only three more red rooms left and then.......


	15. Who's There?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay this is a Long chapter okay?? As in I think twice as long as some other chapters.  
> I considered slipping it in half or even three parts but then I don't know at the last moment I said fuck it i'm posting this lol  
> Hopefully it makes up for the long wait and for the next long wait for the next chapter lol sorry about that

The small, square room wasn’t particularly her style, but at least it was hers. Throughout her life, Rose had worked in small rooms like this one, though not exactly in a haunted house before. She had worked in luxurious studios all for herself, and she had worked illuminated only by candles. She had worked inside houseboats on the Sinne and she had worked on the streets. Rose Weil had designed for the best and the worst of the fashion industry and beyond, but deep down she was always working from her heart, and for herself. She just loved it. The whole process, from coming up with a small idea to the sketches, the drafts, the magnificent final products. Those were the best moments of life, in Rose’s opinion, she felt alive, in control, and certain, all of which wasn’t exactly usual in all other moments of her life, so she appreciated it all even more.

One would think that after ruining the best relationship she’d had in a long time, joining a small group of criminals and ending up living indefinitely in a haunted house, the last thing on Rose’s mind would be to sit down and design some dresses. But everyone relies on little things that keep them alive and sane and bring a smile to their lips. Right now, all that Rose had to sustain herself was this small space, the desk in front of her and the familiar mess of pencils and papers with all kinds of sparks of creativity that at the moment only made sense to her. The room itself was comfortable enough, especially since it gave her some much needed privacy. There was only one door and one lone rectangular window in the opposite wall overlooking the back of the Hill House grounds. On one side, Rose happily worked away and behind her were rows upon rows of clothes, that were either work on progress or about to become one.

So, for a while, Rose was content with sketching some dresses, breathing easily, adjusting the pair of glasses on her face and then for good measure the additional pair on top of her head. Not once, since she had been working completely alone in that room that she believed none of the other girls even knew of, had Rose imagined she would be interrupted. But the doorknob rattled for a second and when Rose turned to look, Daphne’s head was peaking in.

“Rose!” Daphne beamed as soon as she saw her.

“Daphne?” whispered, taken completely by surprise.

The actress rushed inside the room and then abruptly stopped, as if suddenly remembering something, or many things. “Can I come in?” she asked, already inside. She waited until she received a small nod from Rose to close the door behind her, then leaned her back on it and let a sigh escape her, “I miss you.”

A couple feet in front of her, Rose was caught off guard. She fixed the glasses on her face, jumped to stand up from the chair, knocked a few things on her desk, fixed her glasses again and stared curiously at Daphne.

“I really miss you,” the younger woman laughed fondly, slightly shaking her head at everything that Rose was. Her happy demeanor suddenly evaporated, though. Daphne groaned and stared the floor and said “I don’t know what I’m doing.”

A moment of silence passed and Rose, without a clue as to what to expected honestly said “Right… me neither,” she shrugged.

Her honestly was welcomed, and when Daphne looked up again, she was noticeably more comfortable. This was familiar territory, just the two of them, imperfect, sincere… maybe the sincerity had always been there, in some ways, Daphne was starting to realize. She also turned to look very determined, and it was obvious in her strong and measured voice, and in the clearly rehearsed words.

“You know… how I feel… about what you did to me. You… broke my heart,” Daphne shrugged, gestured with her hands. She looked helpless and lost, and it tugged at Rose’s heartstring to see her greatest love look so fragile, so small, so unlike Daphne. During their breakup Daphne had acted explosive at times and emotionless in others, but she had never truly shown her heartbreak. Now? Now Rose could see it clearly for the first time. She was finally feeling the weight of the pain Daphne had been masking.

Daphne was purposely being sincere and making herself open and vulnerable for the first time in a long time, and she was hating it. But there was no going back now, she had been looking for Rose and she had to say everything she had planned to.

“I know I’ve been a little bit of an asshole though, flirting with everyone. I’m… sorry about that,” she looked pained to say that for a moment, but then she actually looked relieved to be done with that. “The truth is, though, I can’t… I just don’t care for other people anymore. It’s like my eyes don’t understand why I would try to look at someone else when I’ve already seen _you_. My heart doesn’t understand why I would try to flirt with somebody else when I’ve already loved you so much. I can’t try with somebody else. I see them and I try to act interested but it’s just that, an act. Nobody will be as beautiful as you are, as lovely as you are, as perfect for me as you are. I tried to hate you… but I love you so much. Recently, someone I really trust told me maybe I should make a little effort on my part to move this forward, take the first step so… I’m here. And I want you back.”

When Daphne was done speaking, Rose immediately looked away. At the floor, the walls, the clothes on one side of the room, the torn wallpaper that showed a hint of words scribbled with red crayon, the dark stains on the corners of the room that most likely were mold. Anything but the gorgeous eyes that she loved with all her heart. Ever since she met Daphne, she knew the superstar carried with her countless emotional shields. Pieces of armor so intricate that sometimes completely overshadowed the big, loving heart that she hides deep inside, that sometimes even Daphne herself forgot was there. All those walls that she had let down one by one for Rose, and then in the blink of an eye she put them back on and some more. During that brief speech, Daphne’s heart was left exposed, and if Rose dared stare at her eyes it was sure she would start crying. So, she avoided that, took a moment to compose herself, and then gave her honest response.

“Daphne, you have to know you mean the world to me. You took over my life the moment I met you and you took over my heart like nobody else _ever/ _has.” Rose stole a glance at the forgotten sketches on the desk, the nearly empty Nutella jar, her own shadow on the floor. She started pacing the small room, otherwise feeling like she might faint before she said all she wanted to. “I tried avoiding it, at first, my feelings, your feelings, our situation, acting oblivious, you know? Didn’t work out. I tried changing, tried to be better for you, tried to be more… put together. Failed at that,” she chuckled, and Daphne followed along, even though these were new bits of information that made her heart feel all kinds of things. “Right, so I realized that I didn’t had to change myself for you, because you already loved me and I loved you. I knew I would fall in love with you, the moment I saw you, it was inevitable. But when I realized you loved me? It took me by surprise. Even more so I was surprised by how right it felt… I would never do anything to hurt you, or ruin what we have. I was trying to save my life, you know? It was about the necklace, never about causing you any harm. I don’t get why you were only mad at me and not the others, though.”__

__“I didn’t get to know the others like _this_. I didn’t fall in love with the others.”_ _

__Daphne mumbled the words, she was pouting, and when she was done she flipped her hair away in that charming way of hers, but Rose could see beyond the distractions. She immediately smiled._ _

__“Right. You didn’t what?”_ _

__“Oh you heard me,” Daphne rolled her eyes, and when she felt a smile try to break out in her face she scoffed. “Can we just…” she said, gesturing vaguely at the space between them._ _

__Rose found it truly amusing, Daphne’s struggle with words and emotions, but she wasn’t about to play hard when the love of her life finally wished for a hug after all this time. She took a tentative step forward, unsure if this was reality or a dream, scared something might interrupt them, might break the spell and that Daphne would suddenly snap at her again. However, when she stilled her movements, the only thing that broke was the last of the barriers Daphne had put up. The eyes of the actress softened and she took it upon herself to fly over the remaining space left and wrap her arms around Rose just like she had been dying to do._ _

__The embrace was nothing if not perfect. Rose’s head fit perfectly under Daphne’s chin, their arms holding on tightly, their heartbeats in harmony, their bodies finally home again. Part of Daphne wanted to cry, part of her wanted to laugh out of joy, all of her didn’t ever want to let go of Rose again. However, “we still have a lot to talk about,” she mumbled, moving her face a little off the mess of Rose’s hair._ _

__“Right,” Rose replied with a careless shrug that brought a small laugh out of Daphne._ _

__“You’re not going to get away with it so easily, you know?”_ _

__But Daphne’s voice was soft, her tone was teasing. She pulled back a little to stare at the beautiful eyes of the woman she loved. Something clicked inside her brain then. They had a relationship to rebuild, but that couldn’t be done from the outside, from fights and not speaking to each other. It had to be done from the inside, from their hearts. They had a lot of work to do… together. Even if there were bumps in the road, even if their moment was interrupted by someone knocking on the door._ _

__At first Daphne’s eyes sparkled with mischief, she brought a finger to her lips so Rose would stay quiet and they wouldn’t have to come out and face their friends yet. However, the knocking persisted, and it wasn’t a very soft one. Somebody was starting to bang on the door. Aggressively._ _

__“What the fuck?” Daphne whispered, and when the banging on the door didn’t stop she turned towards it and yelled “What?!”_ _

__No answer came. But the attack on the door stopped suddenly. Both women inside the room exchanged a concerned look and Daphne opened her mouth but since she couldn’t figure out what to say Rose beat her to it, “Who's there?” she asked, more loudly and confidently than she felt._ _

__Again, no answer but the sudden sound of the doorknob turning. They stared at it, eyes wide and fear written all over their faces. It was simple, so meaningless, a doorknob turning. Why did it feel so macabre in that moment? It turned to one side, stopped, turned to the other side. Daphne hadn’t locked the door, now she wondered why, also wondered why it wouldn’t open to whoever was on the other side._ _

__“Girls?” Rose asked while they stared at the doorknob turned with anxiety filling them up, “Debbie? Lou? Tammy?”_ _

__Maybe Rose would have continued to list the names of all their friends until she got an answer, if the door hadn’t been slammed again from the outside. Daphne felt Rose jump from behind her, since she had stepped forward between Rose and the door, and decided that was enough. Probably not a wise decision, but the only one that came to her mind, Daphne took two quick steps forward and yanked the door open with all her strength, only to reveal an empty hallway._ _

__

__

__

__Once dinner was over, that night it was Debbie and Tammy’s turn to do the dishes and clean up afterwards. Although sometimes tt took a great effort on both sides to keep their interactions civil at least, when they were alone somehow they found ways to naturally come back to their effortless chemistry of years and years ago._ _

__“We could work something from a distance. I do have some options, some possible plans” Debbie was saying._ _

__“Oh I don’t doubt you do,” Tammy laughed fondly, her eyes sparkling, “Can’t you just… not rob anything for a moment?”_ _

__“No?”_ _

__They continued to laugh and stare at each other, glance at the window and the kitchen counter. At that point they were actually done with their duties for the night, but the conversation was still going strong and neither showed intentions of walking away from the counter where they were both leaning their arms on._ _

__“Look, Nine Ball is working on it. The police records. But it’s a lot of work and you know we don’t have anybody else to help. Give her some more time and we’ll be free, innocent citizens again.”_ _

__Tammy’s words were confident, but they crashed against a wall that suddenly appeared on Debbie’s mood. The brunette shifted uncomfortably for a moment, she looked a little lost, Tammy thought._ _

__“I ruined everything,” Debbie groaned, masked her words with a bittersweet smile and stared at the ceiling. “All your lives ruined because I messed up one little heist.”_ _

__“Hey don’t say that,” Tammy softly intervened. “You know your plan was as good as they all are. We were all in a bad place and every little problem piled on top of each other and… we broke down. But you can’t take the whole blame, Debbie.”_ _

__Debbie looked down with a smile to stare at Tammy’s hand sweetly grabbing hers. She weighted her options then. For a flashing moment, she felt Tammy shyly try to pull away her hand, but Debbie tightened her grip, and then softly stroked Tammy’s hand with her thumb. Friends could hold hands. It was a moment of necessary emotional reassurance on a heavy subject. Did she feel the urge to lift Tammy’s hand and place a tender kiss on the back of it? _Ye_ s, she did. But Debbie understood that would cross a line. So she held her best friend’s hand and then with a relaxed smile on her lips turned to face Tammy again._ _

__“You’ve been hanging a lot with Nine Ball lately.”_ _

__“Oh, don’t start,” Tammy rolled her eyes._ _

__“Come on,” Debbie dragged on the words, “you know, as the boss around here, I think…”_ _

__“Bullshit,” Tammy interrupted with a genuine laugh, although she blushed immediately after._ _

__Debbie mirrored her laugh, “I want to know!” she insisted._ _

__“You don’t have any right to know,” Tammy said with her laughter still blanketing the words. She pointed an accusatory finger at her friend, and although she meant every word, she kept the lighthearted tone. “What? Are you jealous?”_ _

__If she focused, Debbie thought, she could be jealous. If she remembered their past, if she remembered her past self, and the old Tammy. But, the times, and both of them, had changed. Debbie had vowed to make and effort, for Tammy, for Lou, even for herself. So she discreetly let go of Tammy’s hand, nonchalantly changed her posture and with a smile said “Jealous of you? No. She’s great but Nine Ball is not exactly my type.”_ _

__The comment and the undercover success in their path that came with it had Tammy bursting out laughing. It was sincere. It had Debbie grinning happily, and she wasn’t the only one._ _

__“What’s that beautiful sound I hear?” Lou chimed in, from her spot leaning on the doorway. Both of the other woman jumped slightly at the sound of her voice. They turned to face her and Lou made a point to turn her previously delighted expression and voice to a disappointed one, “Ugh, it’s just you." And perhaps she felt, as well as Debbie and Tammy noticed, how her teasing didn't reach its usual harsh edge, her smile didn't completely fade, and how much she meant her first comment. She played it off by approaching them and quickly changing the subject. "We have a problem."_ _

__"What is it?" Debbie urged her on, already dreading this new obstacle._ _

__"Mold."_ _

__"Mold?"_ _

__"Black mold, I think," Lou pointed out once the three of them had made their way down the hallway to the basement door, where a dark shadow was noticeably growing from the edge of the doorway. "That's bad news."_ _

__"Debbie, this could be _very_ dangerous," Tammy added with anxiety prompting a frown on her face._ _

__"Just like Tammy." Lou mumbled, loud enough for the other to hear._ _

__Tammy scoffed and shook her head incredulously, "I'm right here!"_ _

__To which Lou couldn't hold back a chuckle, "Just like the mold."_ _

__"Listen the only thing dirty and poisonous here is you!"_ _

__"Oh really?!"_ _

__"Stop it!" Debbie interrupted them, raising her voice and slamming her hand against the closed basement door, startling the other two. "Stop acting like children! Can you fix this?" She pointed at the mold growing on the wall but the pair of faces staring back at her seemed completely lost, they stayed silent. "That's great. I should have brought at least one man."_ _

__Debbie's accusation elicited a gasp from Tammy and a curse from Lou who yanked open the door and stormed down the stairs saying "Fuck it I can fix this!"_ _

__"Lou! It's not that easy," Tammy called out, following her closely behind. "You don't know what you're doing, you never do."_ _

__While the two of them continued their argument, Debbie tried her best at tuning them out and she walked down the stairs as well. She hadn't visited the basement up until that point, even if she felt it was strangely familiar. She rounded Lou and Tammy who had settled at the bottom of the stairs bickering in their own little bubble and then she around the extent of the room. It was, of course, full of dust, dirt, beaten down by time. A few odd boxes and forgotten objects were left behind. And Debbie couldn't shake off the feeling of a heartbeat pulsating on the walls around them. A few very stranges sensations started to invade Debbie's body, she started feeling a little dizzy, a little less like herself. Another headache started. She tried to focus on the argument going strong a few feet away from her._ _

__"I know I am more prepared than you," Tammy was saying, rolling her eyes. In contrasts to Lou's smirk._ _

__"Do you _really_ think so, sweetheart?" she laughed, stepping even closer to Tammy to take advantage to the slight height difference. But her plan backfired when instead of backing away Tammy channeled her courage and took one more step forward, almost making Lou lose her balance all together._ _

__"Yes! You'll be nonchalant about it, improvise a little and put all of us at risk!'_ _

__She was almost yelling. The last word was accentuated by the door at the top of the stairs slamming shut, completely on its own. Although the three women didn’t turn to look at it, they flinched at the sound, they couldn't move their attention away from the argument at hand._ _

__"You really think I would?!" Lou retorted, this time seemingly outraged._ _

__"As long you keep Debbie in your bed at the end of the day."_ _

__Lou's eyes widened and her whole body tensed. "Fuck you," she seethed, taking to quick steps to get rid of the distance between her and Tammy again. This time though, she was the one who kept going and Tammy was forced to back away until almost falling, except Lou reached out with one hand to grab her arm and keep her steady on her feet, and with her other hand the grabbed Tammy's chin, forcing her to keep eye contact as she slowly talked with their faces inches apart. "Your hands are as bloody as mine, Tammy, don't forget that."_ _

__In response Tammy snapped the hand hold her chin away and although she took a step back she didn't hesitate to keep talking. "At least I have my feet on the ground, Lou," she said, "any day now you and Debbie will fall from that pedestal you've put yourselves on and it's not going to be my problem anymore."_ _

__At that point, it was clear to the two of them they had crossed one or a few lines. Their bickering wasn't supposed to get so personal. They were supposed to critique each other's clothes and hair, Tammy's sweater and Lou's gloves, silly things, and never actually hurt their hearts. Without making a big deal about it, Lou and Tammy purposefully aimed the rest of their argument away from the personal jabs and into more entertaining zones. Soon enough they keep the argument going only because they were starting to have fun._ _

__Unbeknownst to them, Debbie wasn't paying attention to them anymore. She was looking in their direction but her eyes weren't focused. The feeling of dejavu, and of the walls having a heartbeat and closing in on her, and her head feeling like it could explode at any moment in a dark explosion, and of stranger's eyes staring her, stranger's bodies approaching her from the shadows, stranger's voice speaking to her._ _

___"What the hell do you think you're doing here?"_ a man with a cane and a hat, all dressed in black, grumbled from a corner of the room._ _

__A girly giggle sounded from behind her and Debbie no longer had to turn to picture the face of Poppy Hill, the mad eyes and the stoney smile. _"They're my guests. These gals are a joy to my heart. Lucky me they fit right in here. Wouldn't want to leave me, would you my love?"__ _

___"Leave her alone,"_ and old lady grumbled, slowly moving forward from another corner of the room. _"Leave them all alone, you madwoman."__ _

__A little boy in a wheelchair. A little girl. Another man. The spectral figures multiplied by the second and Debbie could feel fear take ahold of her body, paralyzing her in place. The murmurs wouldn't stop, their steps were getting closer and closer and although Debbie opened her mouth she couldn't bring any sound to come out._ _

__The only thing the broke her out of that trance was the sound. The cursed sound she heard behind her like she had heard it before. Each time it broke something inside her. It was the sound of a rope tightening suddenly, closing in on something._ _

__Debbie managed to slowly turn around with tears already pooling in her eyes for she knew what she was about to see. And there she was. The same clothes in shambles, the gray skin, the pained expression, the neck bent in an unnatural position, the eyes she knew very well._ _

__A sob finally made its way out of Debbie's mouth, raking her entire body along the way. The horrors around her were so intense she was doubling over in pain by the time Lou and Tammy flew over to her side the second they heard her cry out._ _

__"Debbie! What happened?!" Lou exclaimed rushing to her side, just in time to hold held before Debbie crumbled down to the ground completely. "Baby what happened?"_ _

__Just as quickly Tammy found her place crouching down in front of Debbie, carefully holding her friend's face with both hands and as she wiped away her tears she was asking "Debbie? Love, are you okay?"_ _

__They were desperate. Debbie was too frightened to react at all. Feeling at a loss, Tammy started to frantically look around, trying to determine the source of Debbie's terror. She found nothing at all. They were completely alone in the basement. Unable to sooth Debbie and growing frustrated with herself, Tammy let out an angry sigh and looked up at the ceiling. It had been instinctual, a mindless movement, but the surprise she found startled her enough to lose her balance and fall on her back, staring open mouthed at the image above her. Laying on the ceiling, as if that were the ground and gravity had been reversed, was _Lou_. Lifelessly lying there, cuts covering her arms, her torso, blood escaping from her, life escaping her from the deep cut on her throat, death clouding her eyes._ _

__The horrified scream that Tammy let out made the walls around them shake. She couldn't see Lou in front of her, alive and well, staring at her with worry, confusion, and love in her eyes. But Lou was also desperate. She had Debbie on her knees trembling with fear of a vision engraved in her eyelids, and Tammy laying on the ground sobbing and pointing at the empty ceiling above them. Lou had never felt so helpless in her life, she couldn't stand it. Without any other ideas and unable to bear the image of the two women she loved the most in so much pain, Lou made an impulsive decision. She stared at her own hands, covered by the black gloves she felt the need to wear almost at all times now. Then she took of the gloves. She yanked them off her hand and threw them both to the ground, then in a quick movement she placed her now bare hands on Debbie and Tammy's arms. She held tightly. She closed her eyes and held her breath. Just like that, fear, terror, grief, maximized by a thousand, violent and sudden as if she had just been shot by the most powerful and painful emotions, it all reached Lou's heart. Even with her eyes closed she could feel more than see all the dead people around them in that basement, all that Debbie and Tammy saw, all those strangers, a few familiar faces, her own bleeding reflection._ _

__The basement of Hill House was flooded then by the sounds of grieving screams and cries that shook the entire house to its roots._ _

__

__

__

__"They _all_ looked weird," Nine Ball argued to Amita._ _

__"Yeah well, they all probably experienced something really weird tonight. You and I just got lucky this time," Amita retorted. “Still… Tammy basically went running for you.”_ _

__It was late at night. The eight friends living in Hill House had said goodnight and taken their separate routes, not without noticing a few interesting details. Daphne and Rose had been shyly holding hands, as if remembering how to do that again, and before parting ways they shared a rather intimate hug. Debbie and Lou looked almost as if run by a truck and they locked themselves in the master bedroom without saying too much. Tammy looked just as bad and was just as silent, except for the unusually long hug she exchanged with Nine Ball when they said goodnight. Most of the girls noticed, and that was why Amita was currently interrogating her._ _

__So much fuss, Nine Ball thought, and Amita could only know about how the hug looked and how long it was. But she had no idea how it felt. Nine Ball had never felt anything like that. How tightly Tammy was holding on. How perfectly they fit together. How she never wanted to let her go. How unexpectedly right, undeniably right it felt. The sparks that were awakened, in addition to a deep sense of mutual comfort. Sure, maybe it was just something uniquely Tammy’s. But part of her could feel something special in the hug because it was the two of them. The concept was terrifying, the idea of Tammy was, so she was trying her best at downplaying for the outside world something that was impossible to take lightly in her mind._ _

__“She needed someone, and I was there. Drop the subject, Amita,” Nine Ball insisted._ _

__“Are you blind?” her friend retorted, ignoring the last sentence. “Besides…”_ _

__The reason Nine Ball and Amite were out of bed in the first place was that Amita got up in the middle of the night for a glass of water. In the way there she ran into her friend, and proceeded to beg her to go along with her, since the house was so spacious and even more scary at night. As they talked, they walked into the kitchen and before Amita could even get a glass, she was interrupted mid-sentence by a small squeal she let out when she noticed someone already in the kitchen… inside the dumbwaiter on the wall, to be more specific._ _

__“What the fuck?” Nine Ball cursed and rushed further into the kitchen to see what had startled her friend, “Constance?! What are you doing there?”_ _

__Nine Ball and Amita were standing there, utterly confused, right in front of Constance, sitting in a probably uncomfortable position in that small space. She was wearing her pajamas, but on top of her head was resting the old black hat Rose had found somewhere among the clutter left behind in the rooms of Hill House. The hat looked out of place, so did the girl in the elevator, and she even seemed aware of that, but not entirely._ _

__“Well… I fit in here! Surprise,” Constance explained, or tried to. She looked a little confused to be there, looking around and squirming a little, then stopping once she heard the sound of the supports of the thing complaining under the unfamiliar weight. “I have a feeling this works, you know?”_ _

__“You… had a feeling… you had to get in the creepy elevator in the middle of the night?” Nine Ball questioned her, but the younger woman only sent a bright smile their way. So, Nine Ball laughed, “You’re a crazy kid,” and closed the door of the dumbwaiter._ _

__Although Constance looked ecstatic and Nine Ball seemed about to have fun, Amita was the entire opposite. “Seriously? You’re not really going to do this, both of you? You’re gonna get in trouble!”_ _

__“Please, just one ride? Please? I can’t reach the buttons,” Constance insisted._ _

__There was one more moment of doubt, but it slipped away quickly, joining the silent faces that lurked in the shadows of the house, unnoticed. Nine Ball shrugged, and when Amtia didn’t try to stop her, she pressed the button with an arrow pointing forward._ _

__The dumbwaiter made an angry, protesting sound, then started going down._ _

__“Why is it going down?”_ _

__“Uh, pretty sure this isn’t connected to the actual basement.”_ _

__“Hey!” Constance interrupted them, the hat had fallen off her head to her lap, “Why am I going down? What’s going on? Stop this thing.”_ _

__But not only the elevator was going down quickly, it was also impossible to stop. Nine Ball tried pressing the buttons again, once, twice, dozens of times. She tried both buttons, slammed her hands on the wall, everything while Constance’s cries came from somewhere underneath._ _

__“Nine Ball! Amita?! Hey get me out of here, it’s too dark!”_ _

__“I’m trying! It’s stuck,” the hacker groaned, cursing that ancient mechanics._ _

__“Oh this is bad, this is bad,” Amita started whispering, covering her mouth with her hands, “I’m getting help!”_ _

__She ran out of the kitchen without paying attention to Nine Ball saying “No! Don’t. I’ve got it!”_ _

__However, everything started to look worse, and worse._ _

__“Nine Ball… there’s a room down here… and a ladder on the wall… I’m… Bring me up, please...”_ _

__Noticing her friend’s voice was starting to shake uncontrollably with fear, Nine Ball started losing her patience, but no matter how much slammed her hands on the wall and pressed the buttons, nothing would happen. “Shit, shit, shit,” she continued to curse, while Constance words became equally as desperate._ _

__“Oh God, Nine… Nine Ball… something here is moving… Nine Ball! Get me out of here! Help me! There’s someone here!”_ _

__“Constance!” Nine Ball could only yell at the dark void on the wall at that point, feeling more scared than ever before._ _

__She didn’t realize when other voice joined her, screaming for their friend. She only reacted when she was pushed out of the way._ _

__“Constance, are you okay?!” Lou yelled, she had practically thrown herself down the open space on the wall._ _

__“No!” the youngest of the group yelled from somewhere down in the deep darkness underneath them. She was sobbing._ _

__The kitchen quickly filled with more women and it was Debbie’s turn to try to get the buttons to work while everyone listened with terror to Constance’s cries for help. Debbie cursed the broken buttons, the dumbwaiter, the entire house. Lou was desperate, half of her body was hanging inside the empty space the elevator left behind. She was seconds away from actually jumping down there, when in her rage she slammed her hands to the insides of the wall and with a whirring noise, the dumbwaiter came back to life. Everyone present waited anxiously, specially Nine Ball, who wasn’t even sure her lungs were working still._ _

__Eventually, they all sighed in relief when they watched Constance arrive and hurry out of the dumbwaiter. She looked more than frightened, with tears streaks down her cheeks, and for some reason her t-shirt was ripped, but she was alive._ _

__Although her expression read fury, and she was probably was furious, Lou said nothing, she simply took Constance in her arms. The younger girl was shaking, she was holding on to her friend as if her life depended on it, she felt that was the case._ _

__“Hey, you’re okay?” Debbie asked, in a soft whisper, as she placed a delicate hand on Constance back, who only nodded, and stepped out of the comforting hug and reminded her she was still alive._ _

__“Debbie, there was some… thing, someone…” Constance tried to say, but even her stuttered out words cause a few gasps from the other women listening._ _

__“Did you… see anything?”_ _

__“No,”_ _

__“It’s okay,” Lou intervened, “let’s all go to bed, we can talk about this in the morning.”_ _

__For a moment nobody was able to move, not even Lou herself, everybody was too shaken up. Again, it had to be Debbie. She clear her throat, nodded her head and with a simple “Let’s go,” she got the entire group moving. Everyone but Nine Ball, who felt still absolutely frozen in place. So many things and possibilities and fears flying around her mind. She didn’t hear Tammy softly call out her name, and she wouldn’t have been able to utter a response, but she couldn’t avoid to see Tammy still standing in the kitchen after everybody left, Tammy kindly extending over her hand towards her, Tammy smiling in understanding. She needed someone, and Tammy was there. But of course it was more than that, it had to be._ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys liked it!!!  
> Was it a lot? Was it good?  
> I'm not very confident about that last part but I hope to include a little about Constance's point of view in the next chapter to make up for it.  
> I just have so many ideas and my head is a mess I want to put it all in a chapter and I don't even have patience with myself I just want to put the whole fic out there lol  
> So yeah I have lots of ideas and things planned but still let me know what you'd like to see or something  
> Let me know what you think! (or if you have questions i feel like this was too much and i even confused myself)
> 
> Thanks for reading!!


	16. The Ones Who Pushed The Buttons

_“Nine Ball… there’s a room down here… and a ladder on the wall… I’m… Bring me up, please…” Constance asked, feeling more and more desperate with every passing second._

_When fear kicked in, she had instinctually taken that awful hat off her head and as she stared at it on her lap she shuddered. She blamed the hat. She wasn’t sure why, but now she felt free from something. She could see now how it had been a terrible idea, all of this, but at least she hadn’t been blinded enough to not bring her phone. She aimed her phone’s flashlight around, her grip shaking. This was a strange room, one they hadn’t seen in all the days they had been living in Hill House. The thought of more things hiding just beneath their feet, just beyond a wall or a door, so close yet out of reach, but was it a one-sided effect?_

_Then it happened, the shaky light coming from her phone showed some movement. There was something in there with Constance. In a room that seemingly had no way in or out. Locked for decades. But was that a hand? A lanky arm, a rotten corpse crawling towards her, a hand reaching out, a horrified scream._

 

“Are you okay?” Nine Ball asked Constance, after she noticed the younger girl shuddering in her bed.

They each had gone to sleep, and the two of them had decided to leave on a light in their shared room. “Yeah, I’m okay,” Constance replied, sounding nothing close to believing her own words.

After a moment or two of tense silence, Nine Ball said “I’m sorry,” and desperately hoped that would be enough, she didn’t know what else to say.

“It wasn’t your fault,” her friend replied, shaking her head, slowly sounding a little bit more alive. It wasn’t the answer Nine Ball had expected.

“No? Then who pushed the button?”

“Hm, you’re right, I guess you’re a bitch and I hate you.”

Her words made the two of them laugh genuinely, finally relieving the tension of the night. “It’s okay,” Constance softly added, “You can just… I need to… go find my… that hat.”

“ _Why?_ ” she sounded truly confused, but Constance stayed silent, so Nine Ball finally said “Sure, we can go look for that ugly thing tomorrow.”

 

 

In the main bedroom of the house, Lou was experiencing the weird sensation of fighting a war. She had locked the door so that nothing could get in, she had opened the windows widely so the tension could leave, she held Debbie tightly trying to warm her up, but she felt her more and more distant. Everything was a contradiction. They were both lying on their sides, Debbie with her eyes closed, one arm dangling out the side of the bed, and Lou staring at the back of Debbie’s head, one hand caressing Debbie’s arm, her fingers dancing on the soft skin and Lou smiled when she noticed goosebumps showing.

“Are you okay sweetheart?” Lou asked, glad to be breaking the silence.

“Such a loud house,” Debbie complained and move to lay on her back, still with her eyes closed. “I thought… like a deja vu… I dreamt of a kite, and a line… and Hill House was a goddamned pair of scissors.” Her voice grew in intensity as she spoke, and when she was done she opened her eyes. Lou, that was still lying on her side, propped up by an elbow, could see Debbie’s face, her expression instantly worried her. There was something strange about Debbie, her Debbie…

“I’m sorry about fighting with Tammy today,” Lou said. She didn’t really want to talk about it, but she would have done anything to get Debbie to focus, to act like herself, to distract her from whatever obscure spell this house put over her.

Luckily, it seemed to work. Debbie sighed and took her time but eventually turned again on her side, this time face to face with Lou. She looked patient and kind, unusual for Debbie, she must be trying really hard, Lou thought. But she looked inquisitive and clever and familiar again. “ _That’s my girl_ ,” Lou thought, relieved, ready to brave the consequences, anything for Debbie.

“It’s time, you know?” Debbie said, finally. “It’s time you tell me what happened between you two.”

“No I don’t think it’s the right moment,” Lou attempted a laugh.

“If we all had never made it seem like a big deal, it wouldn’t have been. Now…”

“I think we should stop sharing Tammy’s secrets without her consent, she already hates me enough…”

Debbie scoffed, “Please, you know she likes you more than any of you would ever admit. And it goes both ways. Now stop deflecting and talk.” Debbie’s voice was on the exact tone that was Lou’s absolute weakness. She knew she’d had done anything Debbie asked her, but still, she hesitated. Seeing that, Debbie pushed herself forwards and crashed her lips against Lou’s. The kiss was passionate, almost rough, for a moment clearing their minds of everything except for the kiss, the movements of their lips and the sighs escaping them, Debbie’s hand gripping Lou’s hair, and Lou’s hand moving to grip Debbie’s waist. However, Debbie, supposed to be the one more likely to keep using her head, pulled away sharply, though not releasing her strong hold on Lou’s hair. “I _know_. I know it happened. I just… I need to hear it from _you_.”

Lou felt disarmed, cornered and without a clue on how she could avoid this situation any longer, nothing good would come out of this so, she decided to finally face it. It was her turn to move to lay on her back as Debbie stared at her. She tried to focus, to picture in her mind the best way to share the story. But her mind, weaker than she’d like it to be, got easily carried away.

“It wasn’t too long after you went to prison,” Lou blurted out, and immediately felt a pinch of anxiety and a start of relief. “Maybe a month of two. I was… very lonely, you know? I had made you the center of my universe and then you were locked away from me… I wanted to turn to my old friends, and then I realized those were _your_ old friends… I was bitter, and I felt like, and it was stupid and senseless, but I felt like I needed to get back at you, to take something from you…” Lou made a heavy pause and then she finally said it, “I knew how much you cared about Tammy. And one day I just… found myself at her door.” Lou couldn't bring herself to put into words her thought process back then. Had she wanted to hurt Tammy in order to hurt Debbie? Maybe she just wanted to steal Tammy from Debbie, let Debbie know she lost them both. Had she discovered she was the one hurt, only setting herself up for more pain? Maybe she found only good things instead of all that.

“So it happened at her house,” Debbie let out a laugh that almost didn’t sound bitter, “Okay… okay…” she nodded along and gulped, looked down to avoid Lou’s eyes, and attempted a smile, somewhat relieved to be done with it. Except…

“But that’s not all of it.”

Lou spoke on impulse, apparently genuinely surprised Debbie would think this was it, after all. She seemed to immediately regret that reaction, but not only she thought at this point it was fair Debbie knew the whole truth, it was simply too late to back down. “What happened… went on, for years,” Lou added.

“Oh…” Debbie whispered, surprised. She scooted a little away from Lou but continued to face her, “okay… go on.” She attempted to sound brave, and prepared for these news. The truth was that she had years to brace herself for the reality that Lou probably didn’t lock herself in a convent all those years she was locked in prison. One or two nights with Tammy, maybe some other women as wall, that was something Debbie had made peace with, she had to. But, years?

It was plainly impossible for Lou to think about her story with Tammy in an indifferent, impersonal way. Maybe she couldn’t keep count of all the arguments and heated disagreements she’s had with the other woman on her life, but still, when she thought about Tammy, only the good moments came to mind. Laughing together more than they thought possible. Touches more tender then they believed themselves capable of for each other. The joys of the smallest adventures. Feeling so at home somewhere she was so out of place. The unexpected pleasure of a quietness, stillness, nothing to do but exist together in a place that feels safe and comfortable. Constantly surprising each other, teasing each other and discovering each other. Purposefully scandalizing the suburban families and making Tammy blush in public. Indulging Tammy by wearing a soft and unfashionable sweater. Tammy’s arms tightly wrapped around her while they travelled on Lou’s bike. Tammy planning the perfect picnic. Small heists just for fun. Even if there was only one of those moments for every ten disagreements, it was still good. It _was_.

“That first day, at first we only talked, she served me wine, I stayed the night… Tammy, being Tammy, made an amazing breakfast the next morning,” Lou couldn’t help smiling at the memory, as she stared at the ceiling of the room. “I took that as an invitation to keep… visiting. It was exactly what I needed, she was, I mean, exactly what I needed. We would disagree a lot, laugh at each other, try and fail to not talk about you… Tammy has a mind for business and stability, as you know. She’s the one who gave me the idea to buy that place and open the club. She hated it though, never visited until the Met Gala heist,” Lou chuckled quietly before continuing. “Me, on the other hand, I have a mind for impulsive choices, and before I understood whatever it was that I said one day, apparently I inspired Tammy to… get pregnant. Which of course, I found terrifying and a perfect excuse to run away. I got a new bike, stole it, whatever. I went on a little road trip, met Theo Crain, stole the keys of Hill House, made several other mistakes, and came home.”

Lou stopped in wonder at the word “home” and unsure if she meant it, unsure of what Debbie understood, unsure of where to go next with her story. She could feel she was saying too much and at the same time almost nothing compared to what really happened.

“Imagine my surprise when I found out Tammy had not one but two little kids running around her house,” Lou chuckled weakly. “What happened next… I think the time apart allowed her to see, allowed us both to see we really weren’t… we didn’t fit in with each other, not even a little." Lou tried to suppress a chuckle. She was always amused by just how polar opposites her and really were. "There was some magnetism, sure, some thrill about clandestine routines that was at least a little bit addictive for both. But, to be honest, during this time we started arguing more than ever, mostly playfully, sometimes not so playful. The best part of it all was being just friends… and that’s what we agreed to back then, that’s what we continued and will continue to be. She’ll always be lovely… but to me... she'll never be you…”

When she was done, Lou closed her eyes, feeling suddenly exhausted. Sharing that part of her life with Debbie terrified for so long. She could have a sense of what Debbie expected and didn’t expect from her, and she was sure some lines had been crossed. She never wanted to hurt Debbie, though, not really. Now that the words were out, Lou felt a little lighter, a little more free. She realized she didn’t regret it, at all. She couldn’t regret that things that happened, but she didn’t regret that they were over either.

“Debbie?” she asked out loud when enough time passed and no words came from the woman beside her on bed. Lou opened her eyes and turned her head to the side just to see Debbie with her eyes closed, mouth slightly agape and breathing peacefully.

She’s absolutely faking it, Lou noticed. This left her at a loss. She was sure that it wasn’t a good thing that Debbie preferred to act asleep than to face her after the revelations just shared. But it could be worse, Lou told herself, repeated it again and again in her mind, hoping to believe the words.

“It’s okay,” she whispered softly, accepting Debbie’s act. “You’ll always be the one for me. And I love you.”

Lou leaned over and placed a kiss on Debbie’s forehead. She had to linger a second and afterwards she turned in bed until her back was to Debbie and tried to sleep. For a long time they stayed just like that. Both of them silent, motionless, pretending to sleep. Laying next to each other yet so far apart from one another.

 

 

The next morning at Hill House was a little bit different than usual. Debbie, Tammy and Amita, continued to be the ones to get up first, and so they were prepared to get started on making breakfast for the entire group. However, the three friends, still slow and somnolent, quietly laughing at the silliest of jokes, and feeling soft and almost weightless in the morning daze, when they got close to the kitchen they came across a pleasant surprise.

“I can totally cook breakfast for eight people… of course I can... But maybe the others had something planned? I wouldn’t want to intervene.”

_Daphne_. Out of all people, woke up early for the first time in Hill House. Most likely it was all because of the woman who answered her.

“Darling, that’s just a terrible excuse and you know it… but hey, it’s okay!”

_Rose_. Still in the hallway, frozen in place, not yet entering the kitchen, Debbie lift an eyebrow, Amita covered her mouth with both hands and Tammy made amused gestures to keep them quiet.

“So… you don’t actually want me to make breakfast?” Daphne asked slowly.

“I thought it would be a nice gesture to do for our friends.”

“Right… our friends…” after a brief pause Daphne added, “Yeah, no, they can cook their own breakfast. I meant you. I was offering just for you. If you wanted, you know, I could cook. I mean I could _try_.”

Although no one got to hear Rose’s response, they all saw her stunned expression. Just in that moment Debbie barged into the kitchen beaming “Good morning!” and went straight toward the coffee.

“Early birds!” Tammy commented, walking into the kitchen as well.

Amita followed close behind and added, “Love birds!” earning a quick high five from Tammy and then walked to the fridge.

“Were you about to cook a delicious breakfast for eight, Daphne? That’s so nice of you,” Debbie teased her.

“Oh don’t even look at me at this ungodly hour, Deborah. Besides, at least I can get my… Rose out of bed in time in the morning.” To Daphne’s comment, Rose quietly said “Actually, I woke up first and then-”. “Where’s Lou?” Daphne finished asking Debbie in an accusatory voice.

“She’s used to managing a nightclub, Daphne. Her sleeping schedule is still more fucked up than this house.”

Right on cue, as if the house was always listening, as if it had been waiting for a dare to prove its evil, Hill House had a reminder for Debbie. Behind her, life moved on, Tammy and Amita continued to tease Daphne and Rose, who blushed and argued and blushed some more. But, in front of Debbie, through the window she could easily spot the one and apparently not the only, Claude Becker. He was standing in the middle of the garden, looking as handsome as the day she met him, a little less evil than she knew him, a little more charming. With that exact, familiar gesture of the exact moment they met, he smiled, leaned forward and extended his hand toward her. She swore she could reach out and grab his hand. Even though he was outside. Even thought she was inside Hill House.

What was he doing there? What else could he want from her? She gave him everything, things she didn’t even have. Did he hear her conversation with Lou last night? What if he talked to Lou? What if he told her everything Debbie was too scared to tell herself? But why? What else was he going to take? Lou’s trust? Lou? He couldn’t. He couldn’t? _He can’t!_ “He can’t!” Debbie whispered, quietly enough so that only Tammy standing next to her listened, aggressively enough so that Tammy jumped at the sound of the rage in her voice. If that hadn’t been enough, as she spoke, Debbie slammed shut the kitchen’s window so violently that the glass cracked and fell apart on the counter in front of her.

This had all the women in the kitchen gasping and staring worriedly at the silent and tense figure of one very distraught Debbie Ocean.

“Jesus Christ! Debbie! What happened?!” Tammy exclaimed. She glanced out the broken window quickly, and found the scene ahead completely devoid anything worrying or out of the ordinary. She was about to yell more questions are Debbie, but instead she heard her friend shaky gasps…

“Oh no, oh no,” Debbie said, staring at the broken glass in front of her. She moved her hand to pick up the pieces, but she was trembling too badly. Tammy tried to stop her, but it was too late.

“Fuck,” they cursed in unison when they realized Debbie had immediately cut herself. “Hey, hey, it’s okay, stop that. Leave that, we’ll pick it up later,” Tammy sofly told Debbie, moving her hands away from the mess and tenderly keeping ahold of them.

Their friends rushed to help. Daphne and Rose tried cleaning up a little and Amita went looking for one of the first aid kits. Meanwhile, Tammy studied Debbie’s face, not really liking the troubled look on those beautiful eyes.

“Debbie, what happened?” Tammy asked as softly as possible. She was still holding Debbie’s hands, quietly guiding her away from the window, hoping for a little privacy, knowing Debbie wouldn’t like to be seen so vulnerable in front of the others. Tammy noticed she was thinking of Debbie as if she was elsewhere, maybe asleep, not standing in front of her with a crazed look on her eyes. “Debbie?”

“ _I saw him_ ,” Debbie whispered, her voice straining, as she stared at the blood coming from the small cut on her finger.

“Who?” Tammy asked, but Debbie remained silent. 

Daphne, Rose and Amita had returned and were all standing very close to Debbie. With the first aid kit Amita had retrieved, Tammy got to work.

“What happened Debbie?” Daphne asked, not hiding her concern.

“It was an accident.”

When she spoke, Debbie’s voice trembled as if she was on the verge of breaking down. She looked up and her eyes seemed filled with tears. This shocked her friends very much, including Tammy, who paused her ministration and with a nod of her head asked for a little more privacy for Debbie.

Tammy continued to hold one of Debbie’s hand on her own, applying pressure to the wound, her own fingers covered in some of the blood, as well the few drops on the floor. With her other hand she cradled Debbie’s cheek with all the care she could muster.

“Hey, it’s okay,” she whispered, hoping to comfort her friend from whatever darkness was tormenting her mind at the moment.

However, before she could say much more, Debbie look at her, and all words died in Tammy’s throat. Those eyes… those eyes she knew so well… All of Debbie’s spark, all of Debbie herself seemed so dim… she looked so… scattered. After a sharp intake of breath, Tammy brought both hands back to work on Debbie’s cut.

“You know, Debbie, you’ve been working too hard on this house,” Tammy said, not very sure where she was headed but feeling the urge to fill the silence and avoid another look at Debbie’s eyes for the time being. “You’re putting too much pressure on yourself and… We all need… You could, you could try resting a little? Taking a little break? Maybe you should be in the next team that goes out to town for supplies. Maybe-”

“ _I won’t_ ,” Debbie interrupted her, her voice more firm, but just as strange. “ _I won’t leave you and Lou alone together ever again_.”

It was the strangest thing, Tammy thought. The way Debbie’s voice felt like pure ice, how it sounded unfamiliar. An accent, someone else, not Debbie, Tammy thought desperately. But no matter how much she avoided Debbie’s eyes, the words were out there. Tammy could get to her own conclusion as to what new pieces of information made Debbie said that. All Tammy had now was fear that things would never be the same again for them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so college it's been more stressful than ever so this is how i'm coping...  
> hope you liked it!! thanks for reading!! and thanks for the patience! i'm hoping to update a little sooner this time but who knows lol i'm excited for the upcoming chapter tho i have great things planned i think  
> let me know what you think!


	17. Who To Trust

“Deep down I was prepared for this. I didn’t _want_ to be. But I knew something like this would happen,” Amita murmured as she look at all the work she had on her desk. “Yes, of course Debbie would make me work on something while we were on a break from work! Obviously she would. And I knew that! I knew that. Why else would I have brought all my equipment for? We’ve been friends for a long, long time. It’s a friendship I treasure, and I’ve never doubted her loyalty… but boy was I hoping I wouldn’t have to worry while we were staying here!”

Amita made a pause on her monologue then. She straightened her back, stretched her arms and took a look at the desk in front of her. This house was surely inconvenient in many, many ways. But she was thankful of having at least this little room where she could have some time to herself. Even if that time was spent working, because if she was being honest with herself, she did miss it a little. The whole arming and disarming of jewelry, destructing, creating, it was a good part of her life and in her own way she loved it.

The room itself was kind of small, but comfortable. It had only one door and on the wall across from it there was a single rectangular window with a nice view of the woods around the house. There were two desks, plenty of lights, and just enough drawers and shelves for Amita to comfortably organize all her tools. When she looked back to her desk she remembered the importance of her present task, but was momentarily distracted by a cup of tea on the corner of the table. She didn’t remember bringing it with her, not at all. Whatever, she thought, smiled at her silliness, and went to pick up the cup, but noticing it was too hot she left it, and went back to work, still talking to herself.

“So, I know we’re not on actual vacations, and I don’t mind working, but this… this specifically makes me so… anxious! I mean, it’s not everyday that the one and only Debbie Ocean gives me her most prized possession to mess with!”

At this point, Amita made another pause to stare at the watch currently lying on her desk. Danny Ocean’s watch. Debbie rarely took that thing off her wrist. This was so unusual. Amita picked up the cup of tea and brought it close to her lips, but after a moment of studying it, she declared “Nope! Still too hot.” She placed the cup back down and continued.

“First of all, this is strange. Debbie’s been acting strange. Watches stop working all the time, but asking me to completely pick apart the entire thing? That’s so not _normal_ ,” Amita shoot her head lightly. She picked up the cup of tea again and held it in both hands, and continued to speak up her thoughts in the loneliness of that room. “I’m worried about her, is all. I’m worried…” She lifted the cup to her lips, about to take a sip, but then struck by thought she stopped and exclaimed “Ugh my friend is losing her mind!” went to finally taste the tea again, but then “Oh God! And so I am, here talking to myself…”

Amita lifted the cup of tea to her lips once more, unaware she was being observed by someone else. From one dark corner of the room, out of Amita’s sight, Poppy Hill watched attentively. A wide sick smile took place on her face every time Amita picked up the cup, and a furious distorted frown took over every time the cup was put down. This time she could barely contain her excitement. She was standing on her tiptoes, on the verge of dancing or crying, she could never tell. She wanted to pick up her own cup and fill it with rat poison like the other one so they could cheer together!

Amita’s lips touched the edge of the cup, and she hesitated. After a moment, she turned her head away and sighed. She quickly put the cup down and away for good and said “I should just get this over with,” then finally went to work on the watch that wasn’t even broken, hadn't even stopped, but Debbie’s mind, Debbie’s twisted, scattered, and paranoid mind made her believe so. Her watched marked an hour, all the other houses on the house one day started to say something different. Who to trust, right?

The moment the cup made contact with the table and Amita moved on, Poppy screamed. From her place in the corner, in the shadows, she screamed. And she screamed as if her body was on fire, as if her limbs were being torn from her body, as if the house was falling down, collapsing on itself, every glass of every window exploding, and that was the sounds coming out of Poppy’s wide open mouth.

 

 

That day, Lou, Nine Ball and Constance found themselves on the corner of a room of the first floor of the house. After moving a few old boxes out of the way, coughing through the dust that came up and fighting a little with the handle, they did find a strange trapdoor on the floor. When opened, all they could see was the beginning of some stairs, and pure, absolute darkness. Maybe also a wicked face staring at them from the darkness below, but either they ignored or didn’t noticed it.

“Cool. This is spooky,” Constance said, grinning at her friends, and quickly pulling the flashlight on her phone and getting ready to go down there.

“So you just… _felt_ , this thing was here?” Nine Ball told Lou, her tone equal part skeptical and amused, but received its strong enough reply.

“And you just read ‘something like that’ in an undisclosed source?” Lou said, with a similar tone, and pointing another flashlight to the secret basement she added “Get down there," as the two of them laughed together.

Once the three of them were in the secret second basement, they pointed their flashlights around, and it wasn’t enough. The darkness was too powerful, and the strangeness of the room was too much. There was a lot to see, a lot to investigate, a lot to avoid.

“Whoa, sick!” Constance whispered, not wasting any time to start moving around.

Meanwhile, Lou and Nine Ball remained still, standing next to each other, just moving their flashlights around the room. When Lou was about to start walking around as well, Nine Ball spoke up and stopped her, even though it was barely a whisper.

“Lou, can I ask you something?” she said, and when she received a nod from her friend she continued. “Can you confirm, um, that neither you or Debbie, you know, still have, want, um, something with Tammy?”

It took a big, newfound part of her, to find the courage and the will to care enough to even form that question. But she asked it. And it would take an even bigger part of Lou to process, admit and share the one right answer.

“No, we don’t,” she simply said.

Nine Ball hadn’t thought of an appropriate reaction, so she limited to acknowledging Lou’s answer by slowly nodding, again and again, a little too many times out of nervousness she wouldn’t admit.

Lou started walking then, walked in front of Nine Ball, and with an even lower voice whispered “But I will lock you down here to die if you ever hurt her.”

She slowly walked away, and Nine Ball slowly smiled, somehow more at ease with a threat standing over her.

Constance had quickly found her hat. Although the thing, and its influence on her, terrified her, she could hardly fight it back. It was indescribable, how she felt the hat calling her, screaming for her, bringing her to that awful place. But since she couldn’t come up with a way to explain just that feeling to her friends, she stayed silent.

Nine Ball, with enough flashlights, managed to take a couple of pictures of the place and the strange contents within. There would be a lot of research to do. Debbie would love it, she imagined. A secret room? Where unlawful activities once took place? Debbie would probably come up with a hundred good ways to use and better hide this room.

Lou’s attention was captured by much different things, and she didn’t hold back from calling over her two friends. That’s how the three of them ended up looking through a dozen boxes filled with prized possessions of the Crain Family.

There were many things, and the reason why they ended up there instead of inside moving trucks after the family left Hill House, that was a mystery for the three curious souls watching. Constance, for example, found a tiny, tiny teacup with blue stars painted on it. It had been stored away with a lot of care, it was noticeable. So Constance dusted it off with the utmost delicacy and smiled at it. Nine Ball found a box filled with dresses that could only have belonged to the mother of the family. She didn’t dare mess with them. Next she found smaller wooden boxes, one filled with buttons, one that held a pair of small white gloves. Later, Lou would pick up that box, but she was currently distracted.

Lou was shiting through a pair of boxes filled with papers. There was a little bit of everything. Children drawings, short stories by one of them, rolled up blueprints, a few loose photos that made Lou shiver so she decided not to look to hard at them at the moment. Besides, she was distracted by the next awful thing she found. A pile of magazines and newspapers. What was on the front page? _Hugh Crain_ , in handcuffs, accused of the murder of his wife, accused of madness and insanity, accusing a haunted house, Hill House.

It was unclear how long Lou stood there, paralyzed, staring at the headlines and at the crazed eyes of Hugh Crain. She only snapped out of her daze when she faintly heard Constance calling her name, sounding concerned, and when she felt Nine Ball place a gentle and concerned hand on her shoulder.

“You okay?” the hacker asked, and after glancing at the headlines in her friend’s hands she continued, “Maybe there’s some stuff we should talk upstairs, with everyone else.”

Lou agreed, and ushered them out. She was the last one to climb out of there, feeling strongly inadequate. She could barely believe the door didn’t close before they could get out. She was ready to feel invisible hands pull her back down by her ankles. She was prepared to fight the darkness that would surely try to drown her down there. Nothing happened though. However, as soon as she was safely out of there with Nine Ball and Constance, she hurried to close the door again, nearly throwing it in her haste. She just didn’t want to let out Hugh Crain, who she was sure she saw climbing the stairs right behind her.

 

 

It was just a little after sunset, the night was barely settling in at Hill House, and the eight women living inside it had their minds in very different places. Some of them were looking forward to saying a lot of things, some were avoiding sharing other things, and the same could be said about hoping or not to listen to other things. Not one general feel could be place over the entire house. But that was about to change.

It was impossible to convince your mind to grow accustomed to the event of hearing one of your dearest friends scream in absolute horror, they all found out. This time it took them by surprise again, hearing Daphne scream at the top of her lungs from somewhere in the house. But, at least, their bodies had learned the appropriate reaction, and they were all running towards the sound faster than they could think of questions to ask.

Daphne’s horrified scream came from the doorway of her room and the first one to arrive was Debbie, who had been at her own bedroom. Debbie rushed to Daphne’s side, and beside her brain registering a lot of the color red, she only focused on Daphne, making sure she was safe, and holding her up so she wouldn’t crumble down to the floor. Constance and Amita arrived next, and they noticed, oh did they noticed the horror that had made Daphne scream.

By the time all the other ones arrived, Daphne was still in hysterics, holding on to Debbie for dear life, and the other two were simply paralyzed staring at the scene ahead of them. Lou had picked up her gun, and angrily pushed them away to see what exactly was going on, but of course there was nothing there to shoot, but there was a lot, a lot of blood. It was everywhere. Just. Everywhere. There were stains on the beds, a lot of streaks on the walls, and the clothes, still hanging, were heavily dripping in blood as if buckets of it had been dropped on them. There were a few puddles that formed on the floor, and she was standing on one of them. She turned around to see the shocked faces of all her friends. Well, she had absolutely no clue of what to say either.

Only Daphne’s sobs were heard. “ _Why?!_ What - what’s _that?!_ What?!” she cried, her voices raising, wavering and raising again. At that point she had found a way to fall down to the floor on her knees, still supported by Debbie, who kept her from completely falling over and barely even tried to soothe her, knowing it would be useless. “My clothes! My - what’s that?! All my things… _why?!_ ”

A few of them stepped forward to confirm it was blood indeed and nothing else. Even if their stomachs started to complain. Did they even try to think of how it could be possible to get so much blood? Then it was just chaos. “It… it is blood.” “It’s disgusting.” “It _can’t_ be.” “Who could-” “Obviously none of us!” "Well someone did! “ _Who?!_ ” “But why?” “This _has_ to be a joke.” “I’m gonna throw up.”

Daphne stayed on the ground, but she passed from Debbie’s arms to Rose. Although her anger was noticeable from the tight grip on which she held onto Rose. At least she had stopped screaming, and was softly crying against Rose’s shoulder. Debbie was standing up now, holding Amita in a comforting embrace. Maybe she wasn’t as emotional about her belongings, but that was her room too, and she was pretty shaken up. 

The group was loud, discussing the horrendous situation, but one voice was quietly trying to rise above. “Guys? Excuse me? Hey, everyone? May I - excuse me?” Rose was saying.

“Hey!” Lou yelled, effectively making everybody else silent, “Rose is trying to say something.”

Shocked, but knowing she had to go to the point, Rose timidly said, “Sorry, I just, I couldn’t help but notice, um, I think… I think the… It _says_ something. On the wall. There’s something spelled there.”

After an instant of fear and disbelief, they all moved forward again. Lou, Tammy and Constance were the firsts to crowd by the door, trying not to walk in. As soon as they started to gasp and curse at whatever it is they saw, Debbie walked forward decisively and tried to push past them, but Tammy held her back.

“Hey, hold on, it’s nothing, really,” she tried to say, but her voice broke, words failed and Debbie could see the distress in her eyes. “ _Please_ don’t go in there, okay?”

Debbie ignored her, and kept trying to move forward, but then she found Lou’s arms, also holding her back. “Debbie, please don’t, not yet, okay? Just, hold on. You _shouldn’t-_ ”

“Constance!” Debbie called out, “ _What does it say?_ ” she asked, putting all of her strength in each word, just demanding an answer, even if it terrified her that when Constance met her eyes there were tears forming in those eyes.

“ _Come home Debbie._ ” Is all Constance said.

Silence and fear filled the entire house for a moment, and nobody moved. When Debbie tried to walk into the room again, no one had the strength to try to stop her. She walked in, not minging stepping on the small pools of blood, not minding the awful smell that was starting to be dizzying. She stood in the middle of the room and looked around. The blood dripped on thin lines on the walls. The words were long, almost impossible to make out, but once you had seen it, there was no way to unsee it. COME HOME DEBBIE.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Thanks for reading!  
> This was fun, and I'm reallyyy looking forward to the next chapter because I have something special planned.  
> So I don't remember if I said this last time but I recently read The Haunting of Hill House the book! And it was really inspiring lol there are many things I wish I had added before but it's never too late! That last part of this chapter was more inspired by the book. But the show is still at the heart of this. Which reminds me the Director's cut just came out!! and I really feel like rewatching it one more time lol  
> Anyway, I really hope you guys liked it! Please let me know what you think


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